Valour Guardians 4: The Conspiracy
by typhoonboom08
Summary: A trip to the grocery store turns into a battle as Gohan crosses paths with another super powered teen destroying a company. However, the boy becomes the least of their worries as the company proves to have a connection to a very dark part of Gohan's past
1. The Man Called Justi

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but the plot, yada yada yada. you don't care about this

* * *

**The Man Named Justi**

Gohan: _It is our compassion, not our abilities that separate the good from the evil and is something all heroes hold in high regard. Even when facing the darkest foes, true heroes will never kill or allow another if there is a way around it. But this is a quality even the greatest of people find hard to hold onto when it results in pain for yourself and your loved ones._

The streets of West City were busy as ever, despite the clouds' promise of rain in the near future. The last of the damage from the latest power hungry maniac's assault was finally repaired and everyone was enjoying the city's restored beauty and reopening stores. And a certain Saiyan hybrid, whether he liked it or not, was no exception.

"Man, one of these days, dad has got to teach mom how to fly. Like I want to spend the one day I have off studying and satellite duty doing grocery shopping." Gohan groaned, his hands tightening around a bag before immediately stopping himself. Chichi wouldn't be happy if he came home with bags of mixed goop and shattered containers.

Normally, Gohan was more than happy to help his mother with trips like this, taking advantage of his needs to get away from his desk and get some fresh air. Despite being the one everyone called the leader of the Guardians, though he'd never heard a single member mention anything to do with rank past the number they were given in the satellite's databank, he was still bound to the overwhelming study schedule his mother had set out for him. As much as he loved learning new things, the fact that he was able to complete equations and read books that even senior year students would struggle with at the age of five was a sure sign to anyone that he was overworked. Learning to fight and becoming a hero had been like a breath of fresh air to Gohan and dramatically cut down his study progress, much to Chichi's chagrin, but he was still already smarter than any college graduate, with the knowledge to enter any field he desired despite only being fifteen.

He also generally found a feeling of joy from helping the woman who raised him, but with everything being slow as of late, Gohan wanted nothing more than to spend a say in the forest, running as fast as he could and getting a thrill out of his physical capabilities. Not walking around in as crowded city going to every store imaginable just to find a specific kind of meat or the healthiest rice.

_Oh well._ He thought, staring up at the sky, predicting how long he had till the rain came down. _I only have one thing left on the list and then I'm done. Where's that store that mom buys the twenty turkeys from again?_

Looking around and finding nothing but people towering over him, Gohan let out a frustrated sigh, restraining his urge to levitate. After all, that would make the black jacket, hat and sunglasses he'd put on to hide his identity pointless. Opting for a less revealing approach, he took a quick glance around himself to ensure no one was paying particular attention to him and to plan his move before running through the gaps of the crowd and in between two buildings as fast as he could, looking like nothing more than a blur to anyone who saw him. Leaning close to the wall, he made sure that he hadn't caught anyone's attention and sighed in relief as everyone just walked on by before shooting straight up into the air and pressed his body to a roof as he looked from one direction to another, smiling widely as he found the place he was looking for. Knowing the way, he casually jumped off of the roof, landing nimbly on his feet, humming a little tune as he walked.

"High Mr Kido." Gohan greeted softly, bowing his head as he entered the store. "I'm here to pick up my mom's order."

"Ah,Gohan! I was wondering when a Son was going to show up." Mr Kido exclaimed merrily, smiling broadly at the young prodigy as he pulled a capsule from his pocket. "Though I still don't understand where all of this goes, especially with everything else you buy. How much do you have today?"

"Three full capsules and this bag of vegetables." Gohan replied, blushing at the mandatory comment on his family's eating habits.

"That's less than usual." A female voice commented behind him as the door opened. "Did your mom put Goku on a diet again?"

Gohan could only snicker at that as he turned to find his childhood friend and fellow half Saiyan friend smiling cheekily, her eyes alight with amusement.

"Are you kidding Videl?" Gohan cried, barely holding his laughter in. "The last time she tried that, dad resorted to biting the furniture before bring home a fish the size of an orca home and breaking every fragile object in the kitchen with scales flying off the thing at light speed. She'll never dare do that again."

"I still remember that near insane look your dad had on his face." Videl laughed, holding her stomach. "Eyes and mouth wide open and saliva pouring like a waterfall."

"And the whole time he was chanting 'fishy fishy fishy. Me want fishy.'" Gohan chuckled, handing some money to Mr Kido, the man releasing a booming laugh before handing Gohan the capsule and wishing him a good day between deep breaths.

"So what brings the daughter of 'the strongest man in the world' to the grocery store?" Gohan grinned, raising an eyebrow. "Your dad sends butlers to do this kind of thing."

"You." Videl answered with a wink. "I wanted to hang out with my best friend, but when I called your place, your mom said that you out here. So I sensed for you and picked up that flare you created a few minutes before I found you."

Gohan assumed that she was talking about when he flew as they turned left and entered a large park, filled with flowers, trees and a large pond in the middle. Coming to a free bench, the young hybrids sat down with Gohan's bag between them, enjoying the moment in each other's company as the sun peeked out through a small gap in the clouds, warming their skin.

"So." Videl started, grinning mischievously as she turned to Gohan again. "Chichi mentioned you blushing over a blond lately. So who is the lucky girl? It is a girl, right?" She added slyly, biting her lip to hold back her laughter as Gohan gasped and spluttered, his face burning up.

"Of course it's a girl!" He cried loudly. His eyes widened at his own scream and his eyes quickly darted back and forth behind his sunglasses, making sure no one recognized his voice. "What made you think that I'd be blushing over a guy?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to see your reaction." Videl answered before falling into a laughing fit, unable to hold it in anymore. Beside her, Gohan's blush refused to go away, determined not to let her see his face until it was gone.

"Why are you so interested anyway? Are you jealous?" Gohan asked with a smirk.

"No way, you're like my brother! A relationship between us would be creepy." Videl retorted as she calmed down, smirking right back at the male hybrid. "So am I right to assume that it's Namine you're crushing on?"

Gohan could only nod as any red his face had managed to lose came back in full force and stared bashfully at the ground. He couldn't deny it. Ever since he'd met the blonde beauty, he'd felt a tingling in his chest whenever he looked at her, but had tried to cut off the feelings completely as most of her affection had been focused on Roxas. However, when it had become clear that their feelings for each other was the love of siblings, Gohan's feelings had grown into a pretty strong crush. However, that was something that he was determined to keep to himself, not telling a single soul about it and being very careful about how he acted around the blond in question.

"When did mom catch me blushing?" He asked softly, a little confused. He couldn't remember ever mentioning Namine to his parents, much less saying or thinking anything blush worthy.

"You were looking at a picture in the morning paper." Videl replied happily. "It was a picture of a panther and its cubs, but Chichi was confident that the blush was due to the 'mystery girl' with blonde hair in the background."

_Oh for crying out loud!_ Gohan cried mentally, smacking his forehead. _The ONE time I blush and mom's there to see it. Namine's not even identifiable in that photo passed the blond female part. I only knew that it was Namine because she'd come running to tell me and Danny the story about the panther cubs before the paper even came out. And Videl, and probably my mom too, still were able to figure it out._

"It's not like you know many blond girls, particularly ones that would willingly cross paths with a wild panther." Videl stated cheekily, as if reading his mind. "So, have you asked her out yet?"

"Um, no!" Gohan exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, throwing her a pointed look. "Do you think I'd be able to hide something like that from mom?"

"Only if Namine said no. Actually, then you would be mopey and she wouldn't stop hounding you until she found out why. Good point." Videl conceded, giving him a sheepish smile before coming back just as bluntly. "So when are you gonna ask her?"

"I'm not." Gohan sighed, throwing his head back sadly. "I'm not nearly as close to her as Roxas is, or even as close as Gwen. It's really unlikely that she feels the same way about me. Even if she does, she sure doesn't show it."

"Well, have you given her any hints about your feelings?" Videl retorted, refraining from whacking him over the head. "If you show her that you're interested, she might respond the same way. And if she doesn't, fight for her affection. You won't know whether or not it'll work until you give it a shot and you'll always look back to now with regret if you don't."

"Can we talk about something other than my love life." Gohan asked irritably, rubbing his temples. "Or better yet, how about a race?" He asked excitedly, his face lighting up considerably. "I can put the bag in an empty capsule and we can have a running race around the city. I've already got everything I needed to buy and I'm dying for some physical exertion. What do you say?"

"Sure, why not?" Videl grinned, chuckling as Gohan's beaming face matched the one his father had when a buffet was before him. "Let's run to the far side of the city. Loser buys lunch."

"Free food here I come." Was Gohan's cocky response as the paper bag disappeared into a capsule with a puff of smoke. Videl's eyes narrowed at that, her competitive side revealing itself.

"We'll see about that." She growled, setting herself beside her fellow hybrid, hands touching the ground and standing on the balls of her feet. "On your mark, get set, GO!"

A small boom like thunder could be heard by everyone nearby as the two took off, looking like nothing more than humanoid blurs to anyone who saw them.

…

Past speeding cars and winding allies, up on the roofs of buildings and down in the subway tunnels, the two ran, leaving nothing but coloured blurs and the echo of laughter as the only signs that they had been there to the people they past. Though they were faster in the air, neither Saiyan hybrid would be considered slow on the ground, running with the speed of a cheetah. When that mixed with their combat instincts, even speeding cars and high walls only made their race into an obstacle course, rather than the promise of death some of the events they'd past would be to a normal person. And through it all, Gohan couldn't have felt more alive.

"You know, I thought the gap between us would have shortened at least a little, seeing as you have even less time to train than you did a couple of months ago." Videl frowned as she followed Gohan out of a subway tunnel, leaping over two startled old women with a quick apology. "But I'm still only keeping up as much as I ever have."

"That's because I still do train a little while on monitor duty." Gohan laughed, jumping up and off of a light pole. "And some of the bad guys we face are really strong. Fright Knight and Vilgax were intense and I got a few good injuries from them to boot. Now they were painful ways to increase my strength."

"So I meant to ask, what happened with those two?" Videl asked, flipping over a moving car before landing a few feet behind Gohan. "I mean, did you finish the job?"

"Fright Knight was already dead." Was Gohan's response, his voice a little hesitant. However, it was more than enough to answer her question.

"There both still out there." She stated firmly, getting a nod in return. "You know I'm all for compassion, but one day you're going to have to figure out when to set it on the shelf. Letting the cruelest of the cruel live will only come back to bite you in the end."

"You might be right." Gohan replied emotionlessly, sliding into a tight left turn around a particularly large building. "But every Guardian feels that taking another's life makes you as bad as them and even if one of us was willing, Vilgax was the only one that bad we had a chance to eighty six."

"I just hope when the time comes at least you will be ready to kill again." Videl sighed, getting no response from Gohan. A sudden pang of quilt crossed her mind and she kicked herself as she realised that she'd ruined his mood. Deciding that criticism and doom and gloom could wait for another day, she wracked her brain for a happier conversation.

"Hey, after we eat do you wanna go scuba diving with me? I found a lake in the mountains that's full of really beautiful fish."

"Yeah, sounds good." Gohan grinned as he leapt onto the roof of a small convenience store.

Happy that she'd put a smile back on his face, Videl opened her mouth to give him more details when a wailing siren burst in their ears, causing both Saiyans to come to a sudden halt and grab their ears in discomfort.

"Urgh, beyond human hearing can definitely have its downsides." Videl groaned, her eyes scanning the streets for the source of the noise. They found it a second later as four police cars blew down the street so fast that you'd think they were running on rocket fuel.

"I wonder what's got them so worked…" Gohan started curiously before an explosion blew a decently sized hole in a building just down the street. "Yeah, that would do it." He finished dully, frowning with his eyes half closed as the flames and smoke receded.

As the smoke disappeared, five men were revealed lying on the ground, all of them bruised and bleeding, as another person ran from the building. This one however, looked much different. While the wounded were all clad in business suits, the standing figure had dark purple spandex, decorated with white lines going down the front of his legs, covering most of his body with a red bandanna around his neck. Metal shoes were on his feet and white armour covered him from his chest down to his white belt with a red buckle. His left arm had metal plates over his spandex covered muscles and shoulder, along with his knee caps, while the his entire right arm, from his shoulder down to his finger tips, was covered in metal, yet seemed to worked perfectly. Finally, there was a metal helmet on his head that reached the end of his nose, which Gohan found most peculiar as it appeared that it had no holes for vision, yet this person was walking around just fine. It had what looked like an antenna coming from both sides and specks of brown hair could be seen from the bottom of the back, the only part of his body, apart from his mouth and chin, that could be seen.

He smashed his fist into the building in what appeared to be anger to Gohan, judging by the male's tense figure, as the cops got closer before turning back to his victims. All five of them shook with fear as he appeared to have finished talking. Turning his head to the tops of the buildings, the figure ran two steps and jumped, shocking everyone in the vicinity as his leap took him right onto the roof of the highest building before landing nimbly on the balls of his feet and jumping to another.

"That guys a meta human." Gohan growled, his aura flaring around him. "Videl, find out what he was doing there and see if everyone's ok. I'll take him."

"Sure, but save some of the action for me." Videl nodded with a smirk before heading down. At the same time, Gohan took off, his speed in the air allowing him to quickly catch up with the super powered troublemaker. Coming right up to him mid jump, the metal man had just enough time to gasp at the sudden appearance before Gohan swung his fist out to his side, catching his prey right in the gut and sending him plummeting back into the ground. Dust flew into the air upon the loud impact, temporarily covering the dint sized crater the fall created in the ground as Gohan landed silently a few meters away.

However, he quickly leapt to the left as he felt a surge of energy gather quickly, barely dodging round purple blast of energy that was aimed quite accurately for his head.

_What the?_ Gohan thought, wide eyed as blast after blast followed it, all of them heading straight for his head or gut, barely able to dodge even when he moved at full speed. _The dust is blocking his vision, but he still knows exactly where I am. He's even keeping up with my speed. Can he sense me?_ Before he could figure out the answer, one blast slipped through his guard.

"Argh!" Gohan cried as the blast hit his shoulder, sending him spinning into the ground. Grunting, he tried to process what just happened while raising an energy shield around himself, noticeably twitching as the blasts struck it.

"Unreal. Where is that power coming from?" Gohan muttered as he looked up at the guy. "He's powerful, but he shouldn't be able to create blasts that strong. Where's the extra energy coming from?"

Watching him intently, both with his senses and his eyes, Gohan simply increased the amount of energy in is shield and watched his opponent's energy flow. "He's only shooting from his right fist while most people would use both." He muttered turning his attention to the arm. It was then, between blasts that Gohan noticed it. "That's it!" He cheered triumphantly, watching the arm. Though the blasts were coming from his fist, the energy was visibly travelling from as far back as half way up his forearm and that was where the greater than possible power was coming from. "That arm amplifies the amount of energy that's going through it. I admit, it's pretty impressive to be able to mix your natural powers with technology. But that alone won't save you."

"Just leave me alone." The boy growled, ceasing his attack. "This has nothing to do with you so mind your own business."

"You attack innocent people. That makes it my business." Gohan retorted, bursting forth faster than any normal human could react to, his fist drawn back. Growling, the boy threw up his metal arm and planted himself firmly on the ground in response, surprising Gohan as he blocked his punch. Flinging his arm out to his side, he took Gohan's fist with it, turning the Saiyan and leaving his hip vulnerable as he threw an uppercut. Gohan quickly spun his body 360 degrees and deflected the punch with an open palm, following it up with a roundhouse kick the boy ducked under and retaliated to with a kick at Gohan's chin. The Saiyan leapt back to avoid it before going low into a sweep kick that the boy leapt over and high into the air, Gohan following him up a second later.

"I told you to go away." The boy shouted, raising his right arm above his head. Gohan's eyes popped out of his sockets as the hand suddenly grew much bigger and thicker. It was more than twice its original size when it finished. "Sorry, but I can't let you stop me." The boy continued, the guilt apparent in his voice. "Thunderclap!" Yellow energy danced within his huge palm as it came crashing down towards the Saiyan. Still caught in shock, both by the growth and the speed at which it was moving, Gohan failed to avoid the attack was slammed in the back.

"AARRRGGGHH!" With an explosion of yellow energy and a bang worthy of the attack's name, Gohan was blown right back down and slammed into the earth, creating a shockwave through the ground as he did and setting off more than one car alarm. Groaning, he pulled himself up to all fours and took a few deep breaths before rising to his feet, checking himself over for any serious wounds only to sigh in relief when he found a big bruise to be the worst of it.

"Now that was a nice shot." Gohan muttered, scanning the area for his opponent. However, the mysterious boy was nowhere in sight. Frowning, he focused his senses, but the only above civilian level energy he could find was Videl's. "Man, he must be even faster than I thought he can suppress his energy like me."

"Gohan, are you ok?" Videl called, dropping down next to him, her concern evident on her face as she scanned his body. "How did that guy manage to do this to _you_! I sensed his energy and you're much stronger than him."

"His mechanical arm neutralised that problem." Gohan sighed, rubbing his shoulder tenderly. "It amplified his powers. He must have some sort of mental ability too. He was able to block and dodge even my fastest assaults and he knew where I was even with that bucket on his head and a dust cloud between me and his eyes. It's a real enigma. So what did you find out?" He asked, tilting his head.

"Not much." Videl sighed, closing her eyes as she shook her head. "The cops didn't want to talk to me at all, but I did manage to find out that his name is Justiman and that's not the first time that he's attacked a building, though the other two were in Tokyo."

"Justiman huh?" Gohan muttered thoughtfully. "Let's see what I can pull…huh?" Gohan frowned, padding his pockets and only finding the capsules and his wallet. "I guess I left my V com at home." He smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Then let's go see Bulma." Videl replied before smirking at the boy. "We can even turn it into our new finish line. Of course this time we'll have to fly. We have business to take care of."

"Sounds good to me. Then I can still get that free meal." Gohan smirked back, his aura flaring around him, Videl doing the same a second later. "Ready, set, GO!"

Two white streaks cut through the sky at that, leaving all the citizens of West City staring in wonder and amazement.


	2. Reconnaissance and disappearance

**Hey all. to answer oh my god they killed kenny, yes, Justiman is Justimon. he's just been altered from being a digimon to a metahuman. if you're a digimon fan, you will recognise a few other people in this and future chapters too. in retrospect, this should probably be a dbz digimon crossover, but meh. anyway, on with the show**

Reconnaissance and disappearance

Capsule Corp was the pride of West City's businesses. The huge, dome shaped, yellow building was easily the most successful place around. The capsule technology alone, let alone what they could make and fit inside them, mad the company known on a global scale and had every scientist and technician desperate to work there.

And it was a place that any Z Fighter could casually walk through at any time, a common sight and one that made many people jealous. Running through the doors, Gohan and Videl slowed down just enough for the clerk to see it was them and give her a wave before running down the hall towards the private living area of the Briefs.

"Huh? Oh, hi dears." Mrs Briefs greeted as Gohan opened the door. The blond woman could be cheerful in a hurricane, something that confused and amused the oldest Saiyan hybrid and definitely came in handy when living under the same roof as Bulma and Vegeta. Together, their fiery tempers and Vegeta's attitude were enough to drive even the kindest of people to murder if you were exposed to them twenty four seven. Fortunately, Mr and Mrs Briefs were miraculously immune. "My, look how much you two have grown. It seems like only yesterday Gohan was knee high and chasing butterflies with his tail wagging up around his head."

Feeling his cheeks heat up, Gohan looked down bashfully, his recently regrown tail twitching underneath his shirt at its mention.

"I still find it weird that Gohan was the only child of Goku, Vegeta and Fasha to ever have a tail. Too bad too, I always thought they were cute." Mrs Briefs went on, unaware of Gohan's blush.

"Hi Mrs Briefs. Is Bulma around?" Videl asked, rolling her eyes good naturedly at Gohan's bashfulness.

"Oh yes, she's down in her study." Mrs Briefs answered, grabbing a tray laden with a full jug and cups. "Would you like some lemonade?"

Gohan and Videl gratefully accepted the drinks before heading off down another hallway and up a set of stairs before coming to white door. A little more cautious here, as the things Bulma did in there may very well explode if she got surprised, Gohan knocked lightly on the door and waited.

"Well, you're not Vegeta, so come in." A muffled voice called, sounding a little irritated. Opening the door, the teenage duo found a woman with shoulder length blue hair and a white lab coat at the far side of her study. Though, lab would have been a better name for it, what with the tiled floor and walls, a stainless steel table in the middle of the room and what looked like two million dollars worth of computer and technical equipment standing around the walls.

"Oh, high guys." Bulma called with a smile as she turned to her visitors, her previous irritation completely gone. "What brings the world's toughest woman and my favourite child prodigy to my humble home?"

"Humble? You could fit a whole football stadium on each floor." Videl responded with a grin, getting a shrug and a chuckle from Bulma.

"We came to asked for help." Gohan said, bringing it back to business. "We just ran into a meta human called Justiman who's basically just hollowed out a building with a lot of fireworks and when I fought him, he was able to block or counter just about everything I did."

"Justiman came to West City?" Bulma asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's weird, he didn't do all that much damage in Tokyo yet."

"So you have heard of him?" Gohan asked hopefully, moving beside her in an instant.

"Only what's been in the news, but let me see what I can find." Bulma replied as she turned back to her computer, completely unphased by Gohan's sudden appearance at her side. She got use to it long ago. Her fingers moving almost as fast as the Saiyan himself over the keyboard, it only took her moments to bring up two news clippings, both showing Justiman and kicking or jumping away from a severely damaged building.

"Yep, that's our guy." Videl stated, looking over Bulma's shoulder.

"It says that he is believed to be one of four people have been called heroes, but never seen in the open long enough to get even one picture." Bulma read, her eyes moving like bullets. "But then a few weeks back, he suddenly appeared before everyone and attacked a private company building. The building took heavy damage and a lot of people ended up at the hospital with varying degrees in conditions ranging from a broken leg to intensive care, but nothing was stolen. The same thing happened at the second attack" Bulma added as she moved to the second article. She was about to close them down when something caught her attention. "Hey, this is something the paparazzi haven't mentioned, both buildings belonged to the same companies."  
"Then how do you know?" Videl asked confusedly, tilting her head.

"Because the company name's on the front of both buildings in small font near their front doors." Gohan answered for her, squinting hard at the photos. "G Junior Corp. I've never heard of it."

"It's a company that only popped up just after the whole Organisation 13 thing." Bulma informed him. "It's some sort of science company that quickly managed to get a total of Six buildings, but no one is really sure what they research. The best we got to go with is that it has something to do with blood."

"Are there any other company buildings in Tokyo?" Videl asked, getting a shake of Bulma's head in response.

"No, only the two hit. Then there's two here and another two in Hong Kong, over in China."

"Well, now we know why he left Tokyo." Videl stated, crossing his arms. "Whatever this company has that he's looking for wasn't there."

"Either that, or he just wants to completely ruin the company." Gohan muttered, rubbing his chin in thought. "What makes a Hero go rogue? Obviously this company's done something to upset him, but what?"

"Sorry Gohan, but I can't answer that unless I knew something about the company to begin with." Bulma sighed, closing the articles.

"Then let's find out." Videl suggested. "Let's go to the other building in West City and see what we can find. It's Justiman's next target anyway."

"You do realise that they're not likely to tell you anything right?" Bulma asked sceptically, giving Videl a raised eyebrow as she leaned back in her seat. "They're not telling anyone anything."

"True, but Gohan's known worldwide for being one of the nine great teenage heroes and they're under attack. The idea of protection should open them up a bit." Videl replied confidently. "And everyone thinks my dad is the strongest non-metahuman in the world who 'stopped a green demon from destroying everything'. They might be more willing to talk to us."

"It's worth a try." Gohan nodded. "Can you give us the address Bulma?"

"Yeah sure. Just a sec." Bulma replied, her fingers tapping away. A second later, a map had appeared on her screen with one building flashing red. "There it is."

"The city limits huh?" Videl commented with a smirk. "Then if we fly, we should get there long before Justiman."

"Then let's go" Gohan said, whipping back towards the door. However, it was then that something in his pockets hit his tail and he remembered what he was doing in town in the first place. "Um, Bulma can I borrow your fridge? I don't think the food will stay too good much longer in the capsules."

...

"I can't believe you held us up again for a change of wardrobe." Videl teased as they flew through the clouds as fast as Videl could go. "Sometimes I think your title should changed from prince to princess."

"Hey, you said yourself that they may respond better to a Guardian. So I should look the part." Gohan grumbled as he refastened his sash. After stashing the food away and calling home so his mother wouldn't have too much of a fit, he had made a quick change into a copy of his Gi Piccolo gave him he kept at Capsule Corp for when Vegeta wanted to fight and Videl had been teasing him mercilessly ever since. At to that the fact that he still didn't want anyone knowing that his tail had regrown and had it hidden a little too snugly under his sash, he wasn't in the best of moods.

"Like those clothes make you look any more professional." Videl rolled her eyes. "Although, I guess the symbol on your wrist band might impress them a little bit."

"Huh?" Gohan asked, staring at his wrists. True to her words, VG 01 was etched into his right wristband with crimson thread, making demand attention within the light blue fabric. "Huh! I guess Bulma saw my number in the satellite's ID number and thought that it was appropriate to emblazon me."

"And it's still small enough not to affect your modesty." Videl added cheekily. "So you won't get a big head."

"Did I do something wrong?" Gohan cried exasperatedly as he lowered himself to avoid a flock of birds. "You've been ribbing into me all day!"

"No, I'm just enjoying myself too much to stop. Your reactions are always amusing." Videl giggled in response. However, both let the subject drop and put on serious faces as they reached the building. Not saying a word, they righted themselves in the air and dropped to the ground, right in front of the front door.

As they walked through the sliding doors, the teens were surprised to find the front room surprisingly empty. The clerk's wooden desk was the only thing there, surrounded by grey walls and carpet, and behind it was only one clerk and one guard. He knew not to expect much in the front room, but Gohan thought they'd at least have a few chair and a magazine rack around somewhere.

"Can I...help you?" The woman behind the desk asked distastefully, not quite managing to hide the annoyed look on her face. "I don't believe we have anything here that would interest a couple of kids."

"Hi, I'm Gohan, one of the Valour Guardians." Gohan replied cheerfully, ignoring the fowl look the stern looking woman was giving them. "And this is my friend Videl, a member of a metahuman group I'm a part of called the Z Fighters. We were hoping to talk to someone about why a metahuman is so determined to bring your company to the ground."

"I assure you, I have no idea what you're talking about." The clerk responded coldly, looking completely unimpressed. "And egocentric metahuman or not, there is no chance any of our scientist will talk to you."

"What did you say, you good for nothing cow?" Videl growled, a vein sticking out noticeably on her head as she clenched her fists. "Gohan is polite, humble and anything but egocentric. Now apologise or you won't have to wait for Justiman to get here to punch your lights out."

"Now, now, there's no need to insult or threaten each other." A voice called from a hallway behind the table as the half open door creaked the rest of the way. "We're all civilised people here." A man continued as he crossed the threshold, smiling politely at the teens. His greying hair and moustache were the only hints that he was aging Gohan noticed as he accepted the man's offered hand. His face was rugged and the outline of firm muscles could be seen under his lab coat.

"I'm Dr Hill, the head of this branch of G Junior Corp." He told them, offering Videl his hand as Gohan let go. "I apologise for the way Margret spoke to you just now. I'll have to ask you to forgive her, we've had a lot of the media and troublemakers your age coming through our doors lately."

"It's ok." Gohan smiled before getting back to business. "Dr Hill, we were hoping you'd tell us exactly why Justiman wants to destroy your company. He's only attacking your buildings, but he doesn't seem to be stealing or simply doing it to kill. What could he possibly want from you?"

"Perhaps the idea of not being special anymore upsets him." Dr Hill replied, bringing confused looks from the teenage heroes. "Why don't you come with me and I'll show you what we do, as long as you agree not to tell anyone of course. If our research got out to the general public too soon, it could be very bad for us."

"Sure, we promise." Videl replied, Gohan nodding beside her. Taking that as all he needed, he led the way back to where he came, though not before Videl could direct a sneer at a scowling Margret.

Dull, grey doors line the hallway on either side, some open, some locked tight. Looking curiously in through the first one, the first thing that caught his eye was a spinning wheel with multiple sealed tubes containing red liquid.

"So you work with blood?" He asked, staring curiously as a scientist took a sample from the wheel and took a sample with an automatic pipette. "What do you do with it exactly, try to cure diseases?"

"No, we leave that to other companies." Dr Hill said, shaking his head. "We examine the mutations of DNA, both in humans and animals. We're trying to see how humans are evolving and how we can enhance it and direct it the way we want."

"Talk about aiming for the sky." Videl commented dryly. "You're talking about something way beyond our technological ability."

"I dunno." Gohan responded as they looked into another lab, this one full of computers with another scientist reading statistics. "Gwen mentioned to me that an Alien race called the Galvan were able to create entire species. They must have started somewhere around this point.

"Admittedly, we've had very limited results up to this point, but we have found a few adaptations." Dr Hill informed them as they entered the computer lab, allowing Gohan to read their results. "Different people have different gene mutations occurring due to where and how they live and what they're exposed to. So what we're doing at the moment is seeing if we can use one sample to develop the alterations of another when they're mixed."

"This is all good and fascinating doctor, but I still don't understand why Justiman would attack this place or understand your comment on the subject before." Videl stated impatiently, getting a chuckle from Dr Hill.

"Isn't it obvious dear?" He asked, only getting an irritated look in return. "If we can succeed in this radical field and make anyone gain any mutation in their DNA structure we want..."

"Then what's stopping you from making people metahumans?" Gohan finished, his eyes widening as he caught on. "Not being special anymore. If everyone's special, as in metahuman, then being a metahuman doesn't mean you're greater than ordinary humans, it means you're the same as ordinary humans. Anyone who's considered special now would be considered mediocre then."

"Bingo." Dr Hill winked. "We've already got some samples from a few metahumans and are trying to find any unusual gene they may have that's generating their powers. If we can find the genes, theoretically, we can duplicate the powers in other people."

"And create an entire world of metahumans?" Videl asked slowly, frowning as Dr Hill nodded. "I'm not sure I like that too much."

"I'd have to say that I agree with Videl." Gohan said softly, chewing his lip. "Humans in general are a self destructive race and giving them powers has a high chance of speeding up the process. On top of that, that would mean even more dangerous villains would show up."

"And what about the flip side of the coin?" Dr Hill asked. "Some abilities could reverse the negative effects of humans, like the ability to grow plants in seconds. And for every newly powered villain to arise, a new hero is guaranteed."

"I don't know." Gohan shook his head. "I think a world without metahumans would be better than one full of metahumans. But that's just my opinion."

"Well, don't worry too much." Dr Hill shrugged. "It's not even possible at this moment and keeping it out of the wrong hands is why we're so secretive here."

"Back on topic, you believe that Justiman's attacking because of the possibility of creating metahumans?" Videl asked. "This guy's supposed to have been a hero and even though we don't entirely agree with this, we're not about to attack it."

"Maybe he likes the feeling of being special." Dr Hill suggested.

"No, he hid in the shadows and didn't let many people see him before he started attacking you. It's something else." Gohan shook his head, frowning at the ground. The situation wasn't adding up. It was clear that some piece of information was still missing, but whether it was from Justiman's perspective or something to do with the company, he wasn't sure.

Both Saiyans deep in thought, neither noticed the slight nod Dr Hill gave one of the other scientists, getting one in return as the man walked away.

"So, we've seen all the labs on the first floor, right?" Gohan asked, turning back to Dr Hill. "So if you don't mind me asking, what's on the second floor?"

"The lunch room, a couple of bathrooms and a filing room." Dr Hill answered uncaringly, shrugging his shoulders. "Other than a few currently unused rooms, that's it. This branch is our newest building and we haven't required all of the space it offers yet."

"Ok then." Gohan responded. "So, just out of curiosity, what metahumans-"

An explosion chose that moment to rock the place, knocking all of the employees to the ground, more than one of them screaming, and forced Gohan and Videl to hover in order to stay upright.

"Looks like Justiman just made his appearance." Gohan muttered, flying out the door.

"Hold up, I wanna piece of..." Videl started, flying after him. However, just as she got to the door, the scientist from before appeared out of nowhere and opened a black stone bottle. Dark purple mist spewed out of the opening and immediately surrounded her head.

The second she breathed in, her eyes widened and she collapsed to the ground, her body wracked with twitches and spasms as Dr Hill and his employee stared down at her, smirking darkly as her eyes turned purple.

"Will she be enough to stop the boy?" The employee asked as Videl's body calmed down.

"Unlikely." Dr Hill answered, turning to the man. "The boy is much stronger than her. A fight with that annoying Justiman might tire him out a bit, but if it doesn't end quickly, he'll join Justiman's side and cause even more trouble. Go to the cells. It's time to infect our other 'guests'.

...

Margret stared on in absolute, white faced terror as her head slowly rose from behind her desk. Debris from the now demolished front wall was scattered all around the room, putting more than a few dents in the table and her bodyguard had already hightailed it, leaving her at the mercy of a very irate Justiman.

"Where. Are. They?" He growled lowly, raising his enlarged, metal hand threateningly. "WELL?" He roared as she failed to answer. Unable to take it any longer, Margret screamed before her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed, scared into unconsciousness.

Growling under his breath, Justiman reverted his arm back to its normal size and charged in, aiming his fist for the next wall. However, before he could reach it, a gold blast the size of a basketball struck him diagonally in the chest, sending him spinning into the ground with a gasp.

"Not this time Justiman." Gohan stated firmly, his glowing hand pointing right at Justiman's chest as he walked through the doorway. "You won't destroy another lab. Not without getting by me first."

"Saiyaman! You just don't know when to quit." Justiman scowled, rising back to his feet.

"On the contrary, I'm the stronger one here. And now I'm aware of your abilities." Gohan retorted as they dropped into offensive stances, glaring each other down.

Never breaking their glances, the two circled each other, waiting for the other to make their move. When they made it halfway to each others' original positions, both snapped and shot right at one another, their forearms clashing as they blocked each others' punches.

Jumping back, Justiman swung his foot right at Gohan's chin. However, Gohan leaned back, dodging cleanly, and grabbed his ankle, spinning him around and tossing him right back out the hole he came in through.

"AARRGGHH!" Justiman screamed as his spine made contact with a street light, knocking the pole down with a bang as he rolled away, moving gingerly to his feet.

"I don't care why you're helping them, but I need you out of my way." Justiman growled, his metal hand growing again, yellow energy surging in his palm. "Thunder Clap!" He raised his arm as high as he could before crashing it into the ground with enough force to kill an elephant, the yellow energy creating a trail through the crumbling ground right to where Gohan was standing and caused another explosion in the reception area.

However, before the energy had even disappeared, Gohan flew straight through it, his aura flaring visibly as he headed straight for Justiman.

"Do you ever take a break!" Justiman cried exasperatedly, leaping into the air. Positioning himself for a kick, Justiman focused his energy into his leg, surprising Gohan as his foot glowed with a brilliant purple energy. "Justice Kick!"

"That's the way you wanna play?" Gohan snapped, gathering golden energy around his own leg. "You're on!"

The two titans met in mid air, both lashing out with brutal kicks. Gohan's face scrunched up in pain as Justiman's kick landed hard enough to leave a large bruise on his abdomen, a feat in itself considering how hard it was to actually hurt the young Saiyan, but Justiman screamed as the blow to his chest propelled him away at the speed of a jet plane, right into the ground and creating a crater much like the one from their first fight.

This time though, Gohan was aware that the flying dust and debris wouldn't affect Justiman's aim, and shot a golden beam from his left hand after him, striking Justiman in the back as he rose to all fours and forcing him back to the ground face first.

"Grr, you're playing for the wrong side." Justiman shouted, pulling himself up just enough to leap into the air and at the wall. Seeing Gohan flying after him, he lashed out with his metal arm, slashing Gohan right across the chest.

"AaaaAAAHHHH!" Straightening himself with a back flip as he touched the ground, Gohan's aura grew and moved wildly as his pulsing energy created strong winds that blew Justiman off course, leaving an imprint of himself in the side wall as he struck it.

"What do you mean I'm playing for the wrong side?" Gohan asked as a grunting Justiman jumped back onto his feet and charged right at him, his fists glowing purple.

"This company is made solely of low lives." Justiman snarled as his fists were blocked by Gohan's crossed arms. Screaming, Gohan flung his arms out, forcing Justiman back five feet.

"What do you mean? They only study the mutant genes in DNA." Gohan responded, though it was a curious tone that met Justiman's ears. This could very well bring the information Gohan felt was missing to light. Seeing Gohan's form relax, Justiman let his own body relax a little, though he made sure to keep himself ready to move at the first sign of danger.

"This company was created to study DNA alright, but the only DNA they're interested in is that of metahumans." Justiman stated, getting a frown from his fellow teen. "They found me and three of my friends and demanded that we give them samples of our blood for 'the good of mankind', but we didn't like the idea of our abilities falling into the hands of any psychotics and refused. Then, before they could even move, four darts came out of nowhere and struck us. My ability made me less affected to the sedatives than the others and I managed to get away before I passed out, but the others... the others were abducted."

His voice broke into a sob near the end as tears dropped below the helmet and down his face. His whole body tensed more and more as he got near the end of the story and his despair was noticeable in the energy Gohan sensed from him. It was more than enough for Gohan. His pain was real and it would explain how the company managed to acquire three different types of metahuman DNA. His face set with determination, Gohan looked right where he knew Justiman's eye would be under the helmet.

"I believe you." He said reassuringly, taking a step towards the distressed teen. "And I'll help you – AARRRGGHH!"

At that moment, a whitish blue beam and a lightning bolt simultaneously struck Gohan in the back, the lightning surging painfully through his entire body. Gasping, Justiman looked up to find Videl standing next to a boy wearing a red body suit with thin, white armour covering it. On his left forearm rested a round shield with gold triangles circling two overlapping black triangles while his right hand bore a silver lance with a red and gold ring decorating its base. His eyes were a golden colour and stood out against the red headband over his forehead holding back his brown, messy hair, emblazoned with the overlapping, black triangles.

"Gallant!" Justiman cried in utter shock, watching incredulously as the lightning poured from the tip of his lance. Another loud scream from Gohan pulled him out of his shock however, and he quickly shot forward. "Gallant, stop it! He's helping us."

Before he could even reach his friend, Videl's beam disappeared and a second later, Justiman released a choked gasp as her knee suddenly dug itself painfully into his gut. The force of the blow sent him reeling, back into and through the impression he'd left in the wall before crashing into the window of a moving car. Unaware of the screams of the family within the heavily breaking vehicle, Justiman stayed unmoving in the window frame, his butt just inside the car while his head and limbs laid in large dents around the doors and the roof, holding him in place as he tried to get control of his breathing and force back the shock his body was falling into.

Meanwhile, Videl spent no time in spinning and striking Gohan in the neck with a roundhouse kick. Not even over the original assault, Gohan had no time to prevent the attack and struck the ground hard, his body giving out. The last thing he saw with darkening vision was Videl's face, sneering maliciously down at his with purple eyes.

...

"I got the sample sir. Are we going to infect him now?" A brunette man asked as he walked out of a cement room, a vial of blood held firmly in his hand.

"No, we have orders to leave him unaffected." Dr Hill answered, shaking his head. "The master wants him in complete control of himself until the end, so he may reek his vengeance by forcing him to watch the destruction of everything he loves and fights to protect before he dies."

"Sir, we weren't suppose to go after him just yet." Another man stated worriedly as they closed the door to Gohan's cell before heading to and rising up a staircase. "We've only just finished testing our experiment and we don't know if it will be compatible with the master's alien DNA. The other Z Fighters will be on us in no time once they discover the brats missing."

"There was no choice, otherwise we would have been ruined by Justiman and the Saiyans." Dr Hill snapped before turning back to the brunette. "Add Gohan's DNA to the formula and have it ready as soon as possible. I shall call the master and inform him of the situation."

"Yes sir." The brunette replied, rushing off to the far lab. At that moment, Videl appeared out of thin air beside the group, causing everyone but the emotionless Dr Hill to jump and scream.

"Did you find him?" Dr Hill asked lowly, glaring as Videl shook her head with a hiss.

"His energy level dropped to low to find. However,..." She hissed, raising her hand and showing Dr Hill a vial of blood in one hand and Justiman's metal arm held casually in the other. "He has left a few things behind."

Staring from one of the items to the other, a thrilled look was pasted upon Dr Hill's face. It was with a maniacal laugh that he sent Videl to the main lab.

...

Through the crowds of West City, a young man, around sixteen years old, limped through the streets, trying to put as much distance as he could between himself and G Junior Corp as possible. A red sweater and green cargo pants covered most of the bruises plaguing his body, but the unmistakeable stains of blood were showing up everywhere, catching more than one concerned look from the people he passed.

But it was his eyes that caught most people's attention. Within their crystal blue depths lied a great deal of pain, confusion, sorrow, guilt and longing. More than one person tried to reach out to comfort him, but he just adjusted the large backpack on his back, pushed a strand of brown hair from his eyes and walked on, completely unaware that they were talking to him.

_Gallant. What's wrong with him?_ He thought, rubbing the small of his back as the pain intensified. Doing his best to ignore all the pain coursing through him, he continued on, heading towards the trees just outside the city limits. _And now it's gotten worse. I should have just told Saiyaman everything from the beginning. Then we never would have thought the second time around and he and his friend wouldn't have been captured. This is all my fault _Flinchingas the pain in his leg grew sharper, he admitted defeat and dropped onto the nearest bench, his breathing deep and laboured. _Well, no matter how much worse everything's gotten, I'll just have to fix it._ The brunette decided, a fierce determination burning in his eyes. _Whether you're hurt or turned vicious, I'll save you all. I promise._

...

Back at Capsule Corp, worry had claimed another victim as Bulma stared at the clock, about ready to pull her hair out. Four hours had passed since Gohan and Videl had left and she hadn't heard a word from them since. Considering the speed in which they moved and the simple nature of their trip, they should have been back long ago. Even if Justiman attacked, there was no way that he could take on the two of them.

"Something's definitely wrong." She muttered, checking her phone for the twentieth time only to find no miscalls or messages. "The older three might not have realised that the phone has been invented yet, but Gohan and Videl would have at least called by now. Something's happened. I have to get them some help."

Dialling the Son residents, she made it halfway out of the room before stopping in her tracks, growling irritably as she cleared her phone. "That won't work, Goku could be off anywhere in the entire forest, Vegeta's taken off to train where Trunks and I won't be able to bother him and God only knows where Piccolo may be. I guess that only leaves one option." Turning around, she ran right back to her lab.

Ignoring her usual computer, she moved to a large screen and console two feet away from it and quickly brought it to life. Her fingers whizzed over the console and never stopped until a large VG symbol appeared in the middle of the screen.

"Valour's light, this is Bulma. Do you read me?" She cried frantically, leaning towards the screen.

"Bulma, this is VG 02, how may I direct your call?" Rai said, acting like an operator as he appeared on screen, smirking at the blue haired woman. His smirk instantly turned to a look of concern however, as he noticed her panic.

"Rai, Gohan and Videl investigated a building and never returned. They've been gone too long, I'm worried something happened." Bulma spoke so quickly that it took Rai a moment to process what she'd said. As it all clicked, he gave her a nod.

"Alright, I'll call everyone. I'll be there as soon as I can." With that, the screen went dead, leaving Bulma only with her thoughts. Desperate for answers, she jumped back in front of her computer and scanned for the day's latest pieces of news, praying that she could find something to calm her concerns.


	3. The Darkening Tunnel

**The Darkening Tunnel**

Dr Hill's face couldn't have held a larger or darker smile on his face as his plane landed in an open field half a mile away from an explosion. As soon as he had ensured that Gohan wasn't going anywhere, Dr Hill had quickly updated his master on the situation and was told immediately afterward to accelerate the plan. Quite keen to follow the orders, he immediately ordered Videl to lead him to Vegeta and Piccolo and was delighted to find out that they were together.

"In one place, tiring each other out in combat, this will be too easy." He muttered to himself as he exited his plane, followed by one of his assistants holding the black stone bottle and three teenagers. One of them was Gallant, the white knight.

The second was a girl clad in black spandex. Thin, formfitting gold armour was placed over her chest and shoulders, along with her feet, and a gold belt fastened by a fox head shaped buckle was wrapped around her waist. Purple gloves that reached back to her elbows covered her hands, with the ying yang symbol covering the back of her hands and a gold, fox head shaped mask covered her face, leaving only her mouth and chin visible. Her red hair was pulled back into a messy bun and to top it all off, she held a gold staff that was as tall as her in the right hand that had a wide ring up the top with a spike protruding from it and the figure of a fox within the ring, three smaller rings hanging from the bar around it on either side

The third was easily the least conspicuous of the three. He was a Chinese boy with messy, navy blue hair. Unlike the others, he didn't wear eye catching armour, only a bullet proof vest that wasn't even noticeable underneath his clothes. He was clad in white shorts and a black shirt. He could have passed for a normal teenager. That is until you noticed his arms, for around his forearms rested what looked like six barrelled Gatling guns. However, strangely enough, even that didn't take anyone's attention away from his malicious, purple eyes for long.

"Gallant, Sakuya, Tech, Videl!" Dr Hill shouted dramatically, pointing towards the fight. "In the name of our master, attack them. Force them out of the sky!"

In an instant the four were off, the girls flying through the sky and the boys running and leaping across the land and trees.

The girls reached the target sight just in time to see Piccolo release a volley of gold and purple energy blasts at Vegeta, a primal roar escaping his lips as he did so.

Scowling, Vegeta moved to dodge the first wave, but it quickly proved futile as the energy bolts continuously sideswiped his arms, legs and face, throwing him off balance and leaving him vulnerable to the second, resulting in direct hits.

"AAAHHH! NAMEK!" Vegeta's aura burst forth and pulsed sporadically as a powerful, violet tinted beam blew the barrage apart, aiming a course right for Piccolo.

Smirking, Piccolo watched the incoming beam with complete calmness, waiting for the last second to evade. However, the strength of the attack had taken the full attention of his senses, its energy hiding Sakuya's perfectly as she shot in behind the green alien, her staff pointed right at his back.

"Amethyst Wind!" Piccolo's eyes went wide as purple petals made of energy blew from her staff as if from a whirlwind and struck home, each energy petal shredding his skin and muscles and leaving him defenceless as the beam finished its journey.

"!" Piccolo's scream was so great that it sent tremors throughout the area as he fell, crashing into the ground with a thunderous bang.

"Namek?" Vegeta called, a slightly surprised and concerned look crossing his face as Piccolo fell. However, he quickly returned to his usual, pissed off glare as he found Sakuya floating near where Piccolo had been only seconds ago. "Grrr, who are you and who do you think you are to interrupt our training?"

"HAAA! Fight Vegeta." Videl hissed, appearing right in his face. He had just enough time to gape at Videl's eyes before her fist slammed into his face, knocking him down into a tree with a scream. Grunting and scowling, he pulled himself out of a cluster of broken branches and flickered out of sight just as Sakuya's staff came crashing down before reappearing on a rock pillar, his eyes and senses focused sharply on both girls.

"What is going on? What have you done to Videl?" Vegeta shouted, glaring heatedly at Sakuya, only to get a dark sneer and cackled in return from both girls. His fists shook as a vein popped out on his forehead, becoming more and more enraged by the minute. "Fine. If you won't tell me, I'LL BEAT IT OUT OF YOU!" Leaping off the stone, he aimed right for Sakuya, but before he even made it halfway, two more energy sources flickered across his mind and he quickly halted his progress to weave and dodge a lightning bolt and a barrage of bullet sized, green bolts. Looking to the ground, he scowled at the sight of the boys, one holding up his lance and the other raising his right arm, the barrels around his wrist having moved up and away from his skin so as not to injure his hand.

"So there are more of you." He grunted, watching for even the slightest twitch in their movements. "Fine then. Two or twenty, I'll still take you all out."

His aura bursting forth again, he charged into battle, right at the boys, but was quickly intercepted by Videl and was forced to block a particularly vicious kick. Moving faster than Vegeta had ever seen her move, Videl unleashed a flurry of brutal assaults, forcing Vegeta to block or dodge each one with increasing difficulty. Normally, Videl would be no match for the elder Saiyan, but his previous exertions and the new ferocity of her attacks were proving to be a serious problem.

"Sorry kid." Vegeta said softly as he threw his arms up, protecting his face. "But you're taking a NAP!" Screaming, Vegeta unleashed a wave of pure energy around himself that slammed forcefully into both Videl and Sakuya as she approached and blew them far away, only two large dust clouds informing the Saiyan prince that they'd hit the earth.

However, after the attack, Vegeta was left vulnerable as he tried to regain his breath and was completely unprepared as Tech shot straight up and over the tree line, his body rolled up and spinning like a ball. Exceeding Vegeta's height, Tech pulled out his leg as he spun down again and landed an excruciating axe kick to Vegeta's forehead, revealing strength beyond any normal human as Vegeta plummeted towards the ground, screaming the whole way.

Recovering, he quickly slowed his decent and managed to stop just shy of the ground only a metal foot to plant itself firmly in his abdomen, leaving him gasping as he once again flew like the projectile of a catapult until hitting a tree and breaking it in two.

Pain coursing through his gut and back to match the migraine Tech had given him, Vegeta shakily pulled himself onto his knees and looked up, only for his face to go pale as the boys pointed the lance and both sets of Gatling guns right at him, lightning and green energy charging to what had to be their strongest level.

"Lightning Joust" Gallant snarled.

"Mega Barrage!" Tech hissed, his eyes glowing a mix of purple and green.

Simultaneously, the deadly lightning bolt was released from the lance and a powerful beam was shot from every barrel around Tech's wrists at once.

"AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" They was filled with the sight of panicked birds flying away as fast as they could for miles as Vegeta's scream managed to exceed even the explosion that caused it.

...

Not far away, Goku pulled himself out of a stream. Though an exceptionally large fish was held firmly in his hand, the look on his face as he turned to the forest was anything but happy.

"Vegeta. Piccolo. Videl. What's happening over there?" He asked worriedly, focusing all his attention on his senses. Vegeta and Piccolo's energy was barely there and Videl's had a very dark feeling about it, as did three energy signals he didn't recognise. Dropping the fish, he created a small explosion of water as he shot into the air, his aura shining brightly as he flew as fast as he could.

...

"Goku's coming." Videl hissed maliciously, her fists shaking in anticipation. Dr Hill however, paled at the revelation, whipping around to his assistant.

"Quickly, get those two with us and on their feet!" He shouted, making his assistant jump so much that he almost dropped the bottle. "Goku's in a league of his own. We need them NOW!"

"R-right sir." The assistant stuttered, opening the bottle right over Vegeta and Piccolo's heads as Gallant and Tech dropped them next to each other. As soon as they started shaking, the first sign that the mist was taking affect, he put the lid on the bottle and pulled two strange looking seeds from his pocket and shoved one into each of their mouths.

"Good thing that Gohan was carrying those Senzu Beans." The assistant muttered as the warriors swallowed the beans.

Before anyone could reply to that, a fierce wind struck the area, blowing everyone away screaming into trees. Videl, the only one not blown out of place, looked down and smile darkly as the source appeared before the downed warriors. There, clad only in his soaked underwear, was easily the most powerful hero the world had ever seen and he didn't look happy.

"Videl, what's going on? Why are you helping these people hurt our friends?" Goku shouted, piercing the girl with a fierce look. Videl just gave him a blood thirsty smile in return, powering up as did so before charging right at him.

Surprised, but ready anyway, Goku blocked both of her punches before grabbing her leg when she kicked and tossed her into the sky.

"Videl, what are you doing?" Goku cried exasperatedly, back flipping before vanishing from sight as she released a volley of energy blasts his way. Reappearing behind her, Videl had no time to respond before a karate chop struck her hard where her neck met her shoulder and she fell from the sky, unconscious.

Vanishing from sight again, Goku reappeared on the ground just in time to catch his corrupted team mate before turning a very dark look at the others in the area

"Who are you guys. And what have you done to my friends?" He growled, piercing each of the corrupted heroes with a furious glare.

"They are metahumans under the master's control, much like your dear Videl." Dr Hill answered, turning Goku's surprised face to him. "A man from your past has returned Goku. And he is quite keen for revenge. You really should have destroyed him when you had the chance."

"Someone from my past? Who?" Goku demanded, tensing as he noticed the teenagers moving subtly, raising their weapons.

"It doesn't matter. For you see, though he wants metahumans under his control, for your part in his exile, he just wants you dead."

At that moment, Goku was forced to leap into the air as a lightning bolt and a round of green energy bullets were released right at him.

"Amethyst Wind!"

"HAAAA!" Goku unleased a surge of raw energy, creating a destructive dome around him to stop the energy petal storm, but scowled as Gallant's lance effortlessly cut through it, forcing him to fly backwards only to find Tech behind him, planting his guns into Goku's back and blasting him forward with a cry of pain, right into Gallant's fist. The punch proved even stronger than Goku expected from the boy as it smashed into his cheek and he fell, stunned, right back to the ground.

"Did you know that Gallant's armour and weapons are made from an alien metal that disrupts ki powers?" Dr Hill asked casually as Goku groaned, pulling himself back up to his feet. "He can't do anything about your strength or speed, but those shields and blasts mean nothing to him."

Before Goku could reply, he was forced to jump left so as to avoid the lethal point of Sakuya's staff as she flew like a charging bull. The miss didn't faze her though as she immediately turned back around, flinging out her open hand right at Goku.

"Spirit Strike!" What looked like four intangible foxes circled her hand as she shouted before simultaneously shooting at her palm. Goku's eyes widened in shock as they burst forth right at him, only now they were four fox shaped streams of energy, one red, one blue, one green and one yellow.

Jumping into the air, he ducked swerved, rose and dived in an attempt to avoid them, but they just followed every move with beyond human grace and flexibility until each one wrapped itself around one of his limbs and pulled him effortlessly into the ground

"ARGH!" He screamed as he hit dirt face first. Feeling drained, he still was still at the mercy of the energy foxes and was pulled up onto his knees as Sakuya, Gallant and Tech approached him, all of them raising their weapons.

"Sakuya's a shaman. And as you can see, it's very difficult to defeat the spirits that she summons and empowers." Dr Hill sneered. "Especially when they're draining your own power too."

"You captured these guys... specifically to stop me!" Goku groaned, his eyes wide in realisation.

"Well, you, your friends and the one my master wants to suffer the most." Dr Hill smirked. "Sweet, little Gohan."

'Gohan?" Goku gasped, all the previous signs of lethargy gone as panic took its place. "NNOOOOO! HAAAAAAAA!" His aura burst forth and whipped like a hurricane around him, expelling the fox spirits from his body and blasting everyone in the area off their feet. not giving any of the teens a chance to recover, he disappeared before they'd even hit the ground only to appear to be reappearing in three places at once, lashing brutal kicks at Gallant and Tech and rock breaking punch at Sakuya, knocking them all down and out before flying right at Dr Hill and his assistant, a fierce fire in his eyes that could only be created by a parent willing to do anything to protect their child.

However, before he could reach the terrified men, two blurs appeared before him, immediately followed by two fists to his gut. Coughing up blood, he doubled over onto two arms, one green and one clad in blue spandex and a white glove.

"P-Pic-colo...Vegeta...what are you..." Goku groaned, trailing off as he forced his head to look up at theirs and his blood went cold at the sight of their malicious, purple eyes. "What?"

"They are ours now." Dr Hill stated, taking a deep, calming breath before cackling maniacally. "Kill him!"

Goku could do nothing as the two of them, both at full strength, gave out a loud scream, planting their now open palms into Goku's chest, yellow and purple energy flaring around their palms.

"Gohan, Chichi, Goten, please stay safe." Was the last thing Goku said before releasing his final, piercing scream as two beams ripped through his chest.

* * *

**I believe this is the part where I say DON'T HURT ME! If you're wondering why I killed Goku, well it was because 1: he's just too strong and for what happens in future sequals, and 2: It has a very strong impact on Gohan both in the present and the future**


	4. Seek and You Shall Find

Seek And You Shall Find

With all the things she'd seen and tolerated in the near constant presence of Vegeta and the other Z Fighters, you'd think that Bulma was ready for just about anything. However, she still jumped out of her skin when the fabric of reality appeared to be ripped open as if from large tiger claws. She took a quick, calming breath as Rai and Kim jumped out of it, ensuring that she was perfectly safe as a white portal opened a second later, releasing Roxas before both portals disappeared.

"Thank goodness you're here." Bulma sighed, giving each of them a thankful look before raising an eyebrow. "But where are the others?"

"Jake said something about a Goblin riot, Danny's exhausted from stopping a group of ghosts that broke free of the ghost zone and caused chaos, Namine's in an area where even our toys can't get a signal and the Tennysons mentioned something about a loose cannon moment for Kevin and an alien trying to steal the sun." Rai answered in one breath, breathing deeply as he finished. "At least for now, we're on our own."

"Now what exactly is the sitch?" Kim asked, trying to hold back her impatience. Her friend was in trouble and as far as she was concerned, they should have gone after him an hour before it happened.

"A metahuman was attacking the buildings of a specific company whose work is highly classified." Bulma stated, getting right down to business and bringing the location up on her computer again. "It's a suspicious situation since no one, and I mean no one, knows what they do in that company and the metahuman, Justiman, used to only help innocent people from within the shadows of Tokyo. Gohan and Videl went to the last remaining branch of the company, G Junior Corp, in Japan still standing, but they haven't returned."

"Maybe this Justiman showed up. It was his target after all." Roxas suggested.

"According to recent reports, he did, but something forced him out of the building after sounds of a fight and he looked really bad." Bulma responded with a worried look. "But there was no mention of Gohan or Videl and G Junior Corp hasn't given any information to the cops or the press. They're trying to hide something about the fight."

"Like who it was between and what happened to the other fighter." Rai sighed.

"I agree. They don't want anyone knowing that Gohan was there." Kim nodded, going over the reports Bulma was bringing up for them. "Which means we'll just have to check out the building ourselves. But we'll skip the front door."

"We kinda have to. It's not there anymore." Roxas commented lightly, pointing to the picture of the building.

"Oh, you know what I mean." Kim retorted, throwing her hands in the air with mock irritation while the boys grinned.

"Let's be serious here." Bulma snapped angrily, immediately calming the teen heroes. "Remember, two Z Fighters have gone missing in there and both of them were stronger than any of you. One false move and you'll disappear too!"

"We know Bulma. Which is why only I will do the initial entering." Kim stated firmly, turning to her younger team mates. "I've proven to be the stealthiest member of the Guardians by far and I am fully capable of handling myself if I get caught."

"Buy why are you going in alone? We're stronger together." Rai asked anxiously, his concern for her just as apparent on his face as in his voice.

"Because it's easier to track a group than just one person." Kim answered.

"Plus we don't know what's in there." Roxas added, drawing Kim and Rai's attention as he looked at the ground thoughtfully. "We're assuming that this company is hostile at the moment right? Well, if they can capture or reject metahumans, we have to assume that they can track us one way or another if we enter their building too. However, a normal human would probably blend in, as long as no one got a good look at her."

"Ok, I can see that I'm outvoted." Rai sighed, raising his hands in surrender. "However, if Kim's going into the belly of the beast alone, she is going to have some tricks up her sleeve."

...

"Remember Kim, go in, get what we need and get out. No heroics." Raimundo said firmly, for what had to be the twentieth time, causing both the red headed heroine and the blonde Keybearer to roll their eyes and sigh, the former in frustration, the latter with a mix of boredom and amusement. The three were casually walking the streets in civilian clothes as they scoped out the building's security, hats and sunglasses hiding their hair and faces.

"Jeez Rai, could you be any more paranoid?" Roxas asked teasingly, chuckling both at Rai's overly worried behaviour and the irony of the situation. Usually when Rai and Roxas were on a mission together, the blonde would be the cautious one while Rai would try constantly to mellow him out.

"Yeah, I thought monks were supposed to be calm and optimistic." Kim grumbled. The more he worried, the more Kim grew annoyed with him. She just couldn't help but feel that he was doubting her abilities. She may not of had the powers the rest of the group had, or the enhanced tolerance to physical blows, but her martial arts skills and gymnastic abilities were only were well beyond almost all of the other Guardians, only comparable to Gohan's, and her stealth abilities are in a league of their own. She was just as capable as any other Guardian and she was going to prove it.

"Well, they have no less than five guards at every entrance and an extra four just inside the former front door." Roxas stated, a small glow coming from behind his sunglasses the only hint of his aura spell.

"I managed to hack in to the building's plans and found its security system." Wade's voice added from the blue device in Kim's hand. "Since its construction, it's had security cameras in every room and hallway, minus the bathrooms of course, and one camera watching each side of the building outside. But since the company took over it, supplies have been bought to reinforce some of the rooms and the basement, claiming it was for extra protection during an earthquake or hurricane."

"A lot of good reinforcing single rooms will do if the whole building falls down or blows away." Rai scoffed, the others nodding in agreement. "What rooms are they?"

"Both are upstairs, on opposites sides of the building." Wade answered as he brought up a map of the place on the screen of the Kimmunicator, highlighting the said rooms.

"Alright then, let's get to it." Kim said confidently, pulling out her hairdryer.

"You do realise that they'll see you scaling the building right?" Rai asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Actually, they won't." Kim snapped, pointing to the left side of the building. "I checked out that side with the zoom feature Wade put in my sunglasses. There's no doors or guards there and a wire's snapped in the camera. They won't even notice the rope. And they definitely won't see me." She added, pulling another object out of her bag. To be precise, a black and grey blanket. "Thanks for the toys Rai. Shroud of Shadows!" With that, she wrapped the blanket around herself and disappeared from everyone but Roxas' sight.

"The window on the farthest side on the second floor should be perfectly safe to use as an entrance. No one's near it." He informed her before letting the glow around his eyes die, rubbing his temples as the usual headache demanded his attention.

"On it. Time to go mission mode." With that, Kim charged down the street as fast as she could, aiming her hairdryer at the roof and firing the grappling hook with expert precision the second she stepped a single foot into the alley and was scaling the building seconds later with impressive speed. Pulling herself to an abrupt halt just below the window, she snuck a quick peek inside to ensure that the room was still empty before pulling out her laser lipstick. Using one arm to pull herself up higher, Kim activated her disguised tool and smiled as the laser almost soundlessly cut a large, circular hole in the glass.

Catching the freed piece before it could fall, Kim swung gracefully into the room and set it carefully down out of sight before reactivating the shroud of shadows and moving out into the corridor as quietly as she could, hugging the walls as workers past her.

_This is too easy._ Feeling quite smug, Kim moved on, looking through every room on the way to the nearest fortified room for any sign of the young Z Fighters.

...

Roxas, his head still hurting from his last spell's drawback, had lost any sense of amusement he'd had for Raimundo's unusual behaviour long ago and was desperately hoping that the overstressing brunette would just hyperventilate himself into unconsciousness already.

Rai had taken to walking back and forth, muttering repeatedly to himself about how this was a bad idea and how many things could go wrong. Even without the crowd recognising him, he was drawing more than a little attention. He couldn't help it. Kim was his friend and was the one who saved his life the day they all met, and she had just strolled willingly into a building where even the most dangerous Guardian, and a girl much like him, had disappeared. It seemed like suicide to him, no matter how amazing the individual was.

"I don't like this. We haven't seen or heard any sigh of her." He muttered, unaware of the growing vein on Roxas' head.

"That would be because she's wearing the shroud of shadows and she only just went in." Roxas muttered through gritted teeth, shooting Rai an annoyed glare. "Rai, I realise that you're worried, but looking for the worst case scenario and enhancing my already painful headache isn't going to get us anywhere. Now sit down before the last two or three people in West City notice you."

"Huh?" Raimundo snapped his head up, noticing the looks he was getting. Conceding to Roxas' point, Rai sat down on the bench next to the blond and sighed, staring at his feet. "Sorry Roxas, but I can't help but worry. One of us in snooping around the base of an enemy we know nothing about, except that they're capable of capturing people even as strong and intelligent as Gohan."

"We don't even know that the company is responsible for that yet. That's just our assumption, even if it is an educated one." Roxas sighed, leaning back into the bench, his eyes closed tight.

"How is it that you're so calm when she could be walking right to her death?" Rai demanded, struggling to keep his voice down low so as not to draw the crowd's attention again.

"Because I've done this exact thing for the Organisation plenty of times myself. And Kim's even stealthier than me." Roxas answered grudgingly. Though not exactly reassured, Rai chose to hold his tongue. He'd inadvertently forced Roxas to talk about a part of his life he wanted to bury and with his headache, it was a miracle that he still had control of his anger. Letting his guilt overlap his worry, he let out a sigh as he raised his palm and created a gentle wind in the blonde's direction as an apology.

Roxas released a sigh of his own at that, though it was a relaxed one as opposed to Rai's sad one. Roxas loved the feeling of the wind gently brushing his face and ruffling his hair and Rai had found it to be one of the easiest ways to calm the Keybearer. Accepting the apology, Roxas wrapped an arm around Rai's shoulders, doing what he could to return the favour.

"Just have faith in her. She's the most experienced of us all and much tougher than she appears. She'll be fine."

"Yeah, I guess you're...hey, is that Piccolo?" Rai gasped, a shocked smile growing on his face as a flash of green caught his attention. The boys jumped to their feet right as the Namek landed behind them. "Boy are we glad to see you." Rai exclaimed cheerfully, running towards the alien warrior. "Do you know where Gohan-"

"Rai, MOVE!" Rai gasped as a black blur struck his gut, knocking him to the ground right before a green fist would have shattered his skull. Rolling across the ground, Roxas pulled himself right back onto his feet, glaring fiercely at Piccolo as he threw his jacket, hat and sunglasses off to the side and summoned his Keyblades.

"Wha? Roxas, what's the matter?" Rai asked confusedly, pulling himself back onto his feet.

"Look at his eyes. They're definitely the wrong colour and everything part of his face wreaks with malice." Roxas growled, never taking his eyes off of the corrupted warrior. "Something's horribly wrong here. And that means one false move and we're dead."

"Oh man, this isn't- WIND!" Rai screamed, throwing his arms up and blowing both himself and Roxas off in different directions as Piccolo surged right at them.

Unperturbed, Piccolo made a quick turn and lashed out at Roxas with a stretching leg, the blond barely managing to block the kick with his crossed Keyblades. However, the force of the blow almost sent the blades into their wielder's neck and sent him crashing straight through a nearby window, eliciting screams from everyone around.

"Rox!" Rai cried, staring worriedly at where his friend disappeared. He couldn't focus on the blond long though, as Piccolo was quick to switch targets, releasing a sudden, bright beam from his mouth. Doing everything he could to suppress his terror, he flew straight up into the air, narrowly avoiding the shot. "Whew, too close."

"Not close enough." Rai's blood ran cold as the blood thirsty voice spoke up behind him and barely turned enough to see a flash of green before an elbow planted itself deeply into his rib, knocking all of the wind out of him as he crashed into the ground, cracking the pavement. Sneering, Piccolo raised an open palm right at him, yellow energy gathering just beyond his skin.

"Time to die." With a malevolent smile, he released the energy in the form of a large ball right at Raimundo. Still unable to even get control of his breathing, the young dragon of the wind could do nothing but watch his life flash before his eyes as his doom approached.

Fortunately, Roxas wasn't so helpless. As the ball approached the stock-still monk, Roxas sprinted right into its line of fire and, using the momentum, spun his body into a full three sixty spin, bringing both his Keyblades together and smashing them into the energy ball like it was a baseball bat. It had the same affect too and Piccolo growled animalistically as the energy attack flew right back at him. Encasing his fist in the same yellow energy, he ploughed it right through the energy ball, causing it to blow up like fireworks in every direction from his body, saving him from harm, but buying Roxas the time he needed to get Rai back on his feet and to put some distance between them and Piccolo.

Roaring in blind fury, Piccolo's aura appeared around him violently and it was only his experiences watching Gohan fight that gave Roxas the instinct to thrust up Oathkeeper.

"Slow!" He shouted, releasing a flash of light from Oathkeeper that covered the entire area. Instantly, everything went into slow motion, Raimundo included. That is except for Roxas and, much to his surprise, a green blur.

Roxas' eyes widened in shock as Piccolo shot at him, his hand covered in the beginning of an energy blade and moving to gut the boy. Blocking with Oblivion, Roxas only had a split second to twist Oathkeeper into place to block the second energy blade before the two fell into a fierce dance, Piccolo dominating the offense while Roxas struggled with defence.

"Unreal." Roxas gasped, hissing in pain as one energy blade passed his defences and ripped off a large chunk of skin from his arm, ignoring the pain, he twisted both of his blades and knocked both of Piccolo's arms out wide, leaving his torso completely vulnerable. Taking advantage of the situation, Roxas quickly made Oblivion disappear as he aimed his free hand at the Namek. "Event Horizon!" Instantly, his hand was consumed by an orb of white magic that released a barrage of smaller blasts, striking Piccolo in the gut, chest and head. A pained scream escaped his lips in slow motion as his body fell back at the same pace. The time spell ceased halfway through the fall, speeding up Piccolo's fall before he rolled out of the line of fire and back flipped to his feet, glaring heatedly at the puffing blonde.

"Whoa, what was that?" Rai asked, keeping his body tensed and ready to fly should Piccolo attack again. "Since when can you move that fast?"

"I can't, I cast a spell to slow down time." Roxas answered as his breathing returned to normal, frowning the whole time. "But Piccolo was still even faster than me, despite being in slow motion. This is serious; I'll never be able to touch him."

"I can touch him, but I can't hurt him." Rai sighed, before grabbing Roxas by the arm and spinning the two of them into the air as Piccolo got on the attack again. Growling louder than before, Piccolo threw his arm out again, making it stretch after them to an incredible length, forcing Roxas to swing his and Rai's bodies around in the air again and lash out with Oathkeeper. An ear splitting scream struck their ears with such force that Rai lost his control over the winds and plummeted to the ground as the Keyblade sliced straight through Piccolo's arm.

"Well, it seems your powers and weapons hurt him just fine." Rai groaned, rubbing his head as he pulled himself off of the ground. "And now that he's down an arm, he'll be easier to fight. Though I don't think Gohan will be..." Rai's sentence remained unfinished as his eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and his jaw dropped. Screaming, both in pain and determination, Piccolo tensed his mutilated arm a second before it completely regrew, his new hand looking exactly like the old one. Gawking in total disbelief, only one thought crossed Rai's mind. "Holy crap!"

...

Despite the relative ease she had moving around, Kim couldn't help but get aggravated. Half the rooms she passed had been cleared of any experiments that had been taking place while the others had too many people within messing around with models or equipment to risk entering. They moved around so much that it was only a matter of time before someone discovered her. One room had caught her interest and her fear as she noticed three metal chairs designed to bind and hurt whoever sat within them, but other than a few used needles, nothing else was in there, leaving Kim feeling both relieved and disappointed that she hadn't found Gohan within.

"Let's see, the door should be right...around the corner." Kim whispered triumphantly as a right turn introduced her to a thick, metal door. It had no door handle or keyhole, just a number pad on the wall next to it. "Hm, normally I'd be here for a few minutes and the beeping of the buttons would risk attracting attention. Fortunately, Rai thought of hard substances colliding with my body." She smirked, fetching a reptilian tail from the depths of her pocket. "Serpent's tail!" Had she been visible, her body would have turned transparent as the tail glowed, allowing her to casually walk through the door.

Putting the serpent's tail back away as she made it to the other side, she quickly scanned the room and sighed in relief when she found it devoid of life. Noticing the camera monitoring the room, she opted to keep the shroud on as she made her way to the computer taking up all of the far wall and took out her V com, plugging it into the computer.

"Kim to Bulma. Are you there?" She said softly, activating the communication link to Capsule Corp. "My V com's hook up to the big computer. Can you hack into it?"

"Is the Earth round?" Bulma smirked, already typing away on her keyboard. "HA! What a simplistic security system. I was expecting a far more impressive system form such a secretive company. Just a few more buttons and... I'm in." She cheered, throwing her hands up in victory. "The V com is already copying all of the files the computer has. As soon as it's finished, get out and come on back."

"I'm going to check for signs of the pubescent Saiyans first." Kim responded, grinning as the line representing the downloading reached the end. "Download completed. Kim out." Shutting the V com down, she tucked it away and made her way back towards the door. But before she got there, the screeching of metal rubbing on metal stopped her dead in her tracks. Covering her ears, she watched in shock as the reinforced door was ripped effortlessly from the wall and tossed down the hallway.

"Now weren't you cocky, Possible." Kim could only stare in fear as Videl looked right at where her head was, her purple eyes shining with bloodlust and flanked by four scientists, each one carrying what looked like a laser.

_Well, I found Videl._


	5. Fierce Battle

**Fierce Battle: The Namekian Powerhouse And The Viscous Saiyan**

The dust cloud continued to grow in size as the insectoid alien released blast after blast at the ground, destroying everything in their path. Ironically, the only thing still standing in the line of fire was the actual target. Grunting heavily, Roxas fought to ignore the ever increasing pain in his arms and back as he held up the Keyblades, using them as shields. However, while he hadn't taken a hit from the assault yet, the magical blades weren't able to hold back the raw force behind the blasts and Roxas found his whole body going into agony as the intensity of each blast rattled his entire being, pushing him further and further back.

"Rai, anytime you…feel like…helping, that would be great." He grunted, gasping as a particularly strong blast managed to knock Oathkeeper from his hands. Unable to muster up the concentration needed to summon the blade back and block the assault, Roxas readjusted his hold on Oblivion, hoping it would be enough.

"Ok, I'll try, but I don't know how well this will work." Rai responded from behind the blond, bringing his palms up above their heads. "Typhoon Boom, WIND!"

As he clapped his hands together, a thunderous burst of wind exploded forth like a circular wave, shooting straight at the direction on the energy attack. Rai's mouth dropped in amazement as it made contact and not only continued upward, but actually managed to jolt the blasts it past off course, resulting in them landing harmlessly about five meters away from the boys. Continuing on its path, it slammed right into Piccolo's head, forcing a shocked cry to leave the Z Fighter's throat as his head was forcibly tossed back, cutting off his attack as his body followed.

"Wow, that actually more than annoy him." Rai said softly, awestruck.

"Not much more though." Roxas exclaimed as Piccolo dived at them. "I'd say you did just enough to tick him off."

Biting his lip nervously, Rai grabbed Roxas and shot into the air as fast as he could, barely avoiding a brutal fist from Piccolo, only to whip around and scream, releasing a powerful beam from his mouth right at them.

"Rai, SKY DIVE!" Roxas screamed, his eyes wide and terrified as the beam quickly approached. Rai didn't ask why, he just dived, squinting as a bright light past over his head.

Their lack of vision, if only for a couple of seconds, was all that Piccolo needed. Just as Rai opened his eyes, a green blur shot by in front of him as an immense pain exploded from his ribs, the strength of the blow changing their course and speed to rocketing towards and into the ground, screaming the whole way.

Bouncing away as they collided with the pavement, battered and bruised, Roxas forced his head up with a groan. As he did, the pained glare on his face turned instantly into a look of pure horror as Piccolo flew straight at a heavily injured Rai, aiming a deadly axe kick right at Rai's neck.

"NO! FAITH!" Roxas screamed, throwing both his hands out and releasing a powerful wave of light right over Rai's body. Piccolo saw it coming and brought a quick halt to his charge, however, that gave Roxas all the time he needed to jump to his feet run. Before Piccolo had even figured out what was going on, both Keyblades had reappeared in Roxas' hand and were thrust out before the blond before his entire being was covered in streaking, white light and ploughed into Piccolo.

"AAARRRRGGGGHHHH!" Piccolo's screams sent chills down Roxas' spine as he rebounded off of the flying Namek, landing firmly on his feet beside Rai as the light dispersed like fireworks. Not wasting any time, Roxas whipped around to face his groaning partner and focused all of his energy into Oathkeeper as the white blade gently touched Rai's shoulder.

"Cure!" In a white flash, the near unbearable pain coursing through Raimundo turned into a mere, dull ache, leaving the brunette sighing in relief and rising at the same time a tired sigh was released from a sagging blond.

"Thanks dude. But are you ok?" Rai asked as he got to his feet, wrapping an arm around Roxas and coaxing the blond to lean on him as he took a few deep breaths.

"I'll be ok." Roxas muttered, his eyes turning back to the pile of rubble hiding Piccolo from view. "Be ready, I'm confident that Piccolo's more stunned than hurt by my attack."

"Then we better work out a plan right now." Rai responded, fixing Roxas with his most serious expression. "I can catch him, you can hurt him, but neither of us can do both. So I'll get you close to him and away from his attacks and you give it to him."

"Sounds like our best bet." Roxas nodded, right before a scream had him jumping in fright. Turning back to the rubble, their eyes met an explosion of yellow energy and dust as a green blur shot right at them.

Not wasting a second, Raimundo grabbed Roxas around the waist and spun on his foot, pulling the blond away from a brutal kick. As Rai kept the rotation going, Roxas brought his blades together as they both started glowing with magic and struck Piccolo's upper back.

"ARGH!" Piccolo roared, pulling himself out of a face plant by turning the fall into a flip. Spinning around, he threw his arms out and fired an intense beam.

"Wudai Star, WIND!" Predicting the attack, Rai threw Roxas straight at Piccolo and created a whirlwind. Letting himself be swept up in the gales, Roxas focused all the power he could into the Keyblades, their glow becoming almost blinding as he crossed them before him. Spinning within the whirlwind, Roxas looked like a white drill, one that effortlessly ploughed through the beam.

"Wha-" Eyes wide in shock, Piccolo couldn't finish a single word before the Keyblades cut through his chest. "Augh…Argh." Purple blood exploded from the Namekian's body as the Keyblades sliced a deep cross from his shoulders to his hips, causing waves of unimaginable pain flooding through his system. Choking on blood in his throat, he could barely get a single sound free from his mouth as he fell hard on his back.

Just barely landing on his feet before falling back onto his butt, extremely dizzy and nauseous, Roxas wasn't in any condition to see the damage he'd done. Rai however, put everything he had into holding in his lunch. He'd caused bruises, broken bones and loss of teeth before without batting an eyelash. However, this was very different. Seeing Piccolo, mutilated and lying in a pool of his own blood, and knowing that he had a role in causing it, left Raimundo weak in the knees and finding it hard to breathe.

"Oh man. I…I never wanted this." Rai gulped, tears stinging at his eyes as he fell to his hands and knees. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

Rai's words reaching his ears as his head and stomach finally calmed down, Roxas turned confusedly towards where Piccolo lay and immediately paled as he felt his heart stop.

"No." He mumbled, panic settling in as he jumped to his feet and stumbled towards Piccolo. "No, no. Please stay alive." Only slightly relieved at the almost nonexistent rise and fall of his chest and the soft wheezing that could only be noticed up close, Roxas threw his hands over the wounds, trying desperately to contain the blood.

"Just hold on for a few more seconds." Roxas muttered as he succeeded, his hands already beginning to glow. "Cu…huh?"

Eyes full of surprise, Roxas completely lost his focus over his power as sudden and rapid movement suddenly occurred under his palms. It felt as if the skin was tugging itself over the gaps in the torso, sealing it like a zipper. The blood had stopped coming out completely too.

"I don't believe this." Roxas muttered, relief mixing with his astoundment. "Somehow he's healing himself. How is that… oh yeah," He exclaimed, his eyes lighting up as a conversation with Gohan came to the forefront of his mind. "Piccolo can regen- ARGH!"

"ROX!" Rai screamed, watching in horror as Piccolo's hand whipped up and grabbed Roxas' throat, blood trickling down his throat as Piccolo's nails pierced his flesh. Adrenalin pumping through his veins, Rai skipped getting to his feet and just flew, almost ripping his pants as he yanked a ruby from his pocket.

"RUBY OF RAMSES!" A golden glow appeared simultaneously around the gem and Piccolo at Rai's call and forced Piccolo to let go of Roxas, leaving the Keybearer to drop to the ground like a sack of potatoes. With a flick of the ruby, Rai sent Piccolo flying away into a gas station, the Namek screaming the whole way, while the wind wielder caught Roxas just before he could hit the ground.

"Rox, buddy, you gotta talk to me here." Rai cried desperately, placing a pair of fingers firmly over an open vein to stop the spewing blood. "Please tell me you're ok."

"Sorry Rai. I think I'm finished." Roxas grunted hoarsely, unable to open his eyes. "Everything's distorted. Hearing, touch, everythi…" Before he could even finish his sentence, his body went limp and darkness consumed him.

"Rox? ROXAS!" Rai paid no mind to Piccolo or the tears falling down his face. His fear and panic rising out of control, it took a moment for him to notice Roxas' pulse was still there, albeit much weaker than it should be. Sighing in relief, he didn't notice the shadow lurking over him.

"DIE!" Rai's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as a foot clammed straight into his side, forcing the win wielder and his blond companion to fly on a collision course to a car. Working on instinct, Rai was just able to turn them so his back would take the full force of the impact and spare Roxas and summoned enough wind to slow them down, leaving them only breaking a window as opposed to half the car on impact.

The blow did its job however, as Raimundo sunk to and slumped brokenly on the ground, shattered glass decorating his back. His breathing ragged, Rai was barely able to lift his head as the clapping on feet meeting cement steadily increased in volume until once again, Piccolo was standing over him, his face full of malice and triumph.

"Well…it was a good…life while it lasted." Rai muttered between breaths, staring death in the face as Piccolo raised his hand, fierce looking energy already dancing around his palm as a maniacal laugh left his throat. Giving Rai and Roxas one last cruel smirk, Piccolo brought down his hand…just as a geyser of sewer water exploded from below him. Spluttering and thrown completely off guard, the energy attack dissipated.

"Wha…" Rai's immediately got an answer to his unasked question as he looked down to find a very familiar blue energy forming a ring around the bottom of the geyser before a giant, blue moth-like creature appeared out of nowhere and blew an icy wind at the liquid, freezing it solid in seconds.

"That ought to cool him off for a while." Big Chill drawled, admiring his work.

"Ben, we don't have time for that." Turning his head, Rai just caught a glimpse of Lucky Girl quickly approaching before his vision turned blurry. "Neither of them looks good, we need to…" But Rai never heard what. All he could hear as his world disappeared into darkness was glass shattering off in the distance.

…...

Between the mass destruction outside and the chaos within, no one noticed the spiky haired teenager slip into the building. Snatching a lab coat lying on an office chair, he slipped it on and buttoned it up, hiding the scratches and bloodstains covering his body, and took off through the building, ducking his head as a scientist past by. Smirking as the man walked away, completely failing to notice anything wrong with his presence, he headed up the stairs and down the corridor opposite to all of the commotion.

_No doubt something that I need is in that direction if a Guardian went there._ He thought as he turned a corner to find a reinforced door. _But my chances of finding out what on my own are slim to none now .I'll just have to talk to them later. Besides, they're doing the same thing I am now. And they're powerful. I could use their help if they're willing to give it._ Pressed for time, he pressed his hands against the door. Frowning in concentration, he waited only until his hands developed a bluish purple glow before thrusting his arms forward, pushing the door out if the wall. Thankful for the noises of the battles camouflaging the resulting boom, he rushed into the room and placed the door back up before turning to the computer. As far as anyone was concerned, he wasn't even there.

…

_Well, this makes the top ten most disastrous situations I've ever been in._ Kim thought, pulling off the Shroud of Shadows. Staring down a Titan who can sense exactly where you are made the shroud nothing more than a hindrance. "Videl, what happened to you? And where's Gohan?"

"None of your concern. You'll be dead in a moment anyway." Videl sneered, her voice full of bloodlust as she cracked her knuckles.

Watching intently, knowing that one move from the half alien girl could mean the end of her, Kim slipped her hand slowly into her pocket, clenching it when she found something scaly.

"Die!" Videl snapped, pulling her fist back as she leapt towards the teen hero, her smile growing psychotic.

"Serpent's Tail!" Videl gasped as Kim's body turn intangible, flying right through the redhead and crashing into the computer. Not wasting a second, Kim let go of the tail and flipped towards the scientists. Landing on her hands, she spun herself in circles and lashed out with her feet, landing firm blows into their heads and knocking them all out cold before taking of the way she came as fast as she could.

"Oh no you don't!" Panicking, Kim dropped right to the ground seconds before launched a kick right over her head. The blow that would have beheaded her brought down an entire wall as Videl spun around, shooting an energy burst at her prey.

"Shoot!" Kim cried, rolling as fast as she could, only just making it safely against a wall as the blast exploded, taking a good chunk of the floor with it. _I gotta get out of here._ Kim thought, breathing deeply in an attempt to control her panic. _According to our files,_ _Videl's more powerful than any Guardian, excluding Gohan, and just as fierce as he is at the best of times. One hit making contact and I'm dead._

"Stop moving around." Videl screamed, throwing a left hook only to destroy another wall as Kim activated the Serpent's Tail again. "It's not like you have anything that could possible save you from me." She snarled, clasping hands and smashing down through the floor as Kim phased through the floor. "You're just a powerless, pathetic HUMAN!" She finished with a roar, releasing an energy beam.

Kim froze in pure terror. The Serpent's tail couldn't phase through pure energy like magic and Ki, she knew that, and there was no way that she could avoid the blast. Raising her arms in a pitiful attempt to defend herself, she closed her eyes tight and waited for her end.

An end that failed to come for with a flash of black and white, a boy a little shorter than her slid in front of her and thrust his arms up, creating a large, square-shaped, green energy shield before them, grunting loudly as the beam collided with his creation.

"What the… Danny?" Kim gasped, relief flooding her system as Videl's beam ended, Danny's ecto shield disappeared with it. "Thanks for the save."

"Don't mention it. Just get out of here. I'll hold her off." Danny replied, his eyes never leaving Videl as the Saiyan hybrid growled furiously, shaking with rage.

"No! She will die and you will join us." Videl roared, her aura exploding around her as she charged through the air like a bull.

Pushing Kim towards the stairs, Danny moved in Videl's way and created three clones before each Danny fired an ecto beam.

"AAHH!" Videl's scream reverberated around the collapsing room as all form beams struck home, sending her on a crash course with a lab bench. Pulling herself out of the rubble, Videl looked up with a venomous glare only to find that Kim and two Dannys were outside her range of vision.

"So what are you going to do now?" One Danny smirked, creating an ecto ball in his hand. "In place of a normal human, you're now fighting two ghosts."

"Doesn't matter, I'm far stronger than either of you." Videl scowled, Ki already gathering in her palms.

"Maybe." The other Danny shrugged uncaringly. "But by now, Kim's too far away for you to identify her energy signature. And even Gohan can't tell the difference between the real me and a clone." He added with a smirk. "And there were two more of me here. So tell me, do think one of us is the real me or are we both clones. And if we are both clones, where's the third and the real me?"

Becoming more and more agitated by the second, Videl threw two energy balls straight at the ghost boys. Both Dannys took to the air and avoided the attacks and quickly returned fire, the first with an ecto blast and the other with icicles. Weaving around the shots, Videl blazed right towards them, her fists encased with energy as a vicious, melee brawl broke out between them.

Blocking a kick from one Danny while simultaneously dodging an uppercut from the other, Videl wrapped her hand around the leg and unleashed her energy right into it.

"Argh!" The energy travelled through Danny's body like electricity, sending every single cell of his being into agony a second before the body popped into green smoke.

Turning to the other, Videl screamed as an ecto ball the size of a cannonball blew up right in her face, her body leaving deep cracks in the floor at the resulting collision.

"How dare you…AAAAHHHHHH!" Screaming like a banshee, Videl moved so fast that she disappeared from Danny's view completely, reappearing less than a second later behind him. Before Danny could even twitch, Videl thrust her hand straight into his back and released an energy wave right through him. There wasn't even enough time acknowledge the pain before he too disappeared in green smoke.

"Both clones." Videl spat. So caught up in her rage and bloodlust, she never noticed another Danny phase down through what remained of the ceiling behind her. However, her eyes became fully alert as he took a deep breath and she whipped around just as he bellowed, releasing a devastating ghostly wail. "ARRGGHH!" Unable to protect herself, she crashed right through the damaged floor and deeply into the bowels of the basement as the Danny, out of power, disappeared like the last two before him.

…...

"We gotta move. The clones won't hold her off for long." Danny cried as he reached Kim. In retrospect, directing her to run upstairs had only increased the amount of time it would take to escape, something that Danny was determined to make up for as he found her running towards a window.

"Well then, blast the window open." Kim replied, fetching a golden item from her pocket.

"Weird time to show off your bling isn't it?" He asked confusedly, though doing as she said and throwing a few icicles at the window, shattering the whole thing.

"Considering it's Rai's, I'd say it's the perfect time." Kim responded, holding it up into the air. "Wings of Tinabi!"

Danny went slack jawed before smiling as gold winds shot out of the item's side, releasing a rainbow from behind it as it lifted Kim off her feet, through the window and into the sky. Following her out, Danny looked down at where the other fight had been occurring and nearly had a heart attack as his eyes found Rai and Roxas. What's more, Piccolo, though in a very thick iceberg, was starting to twitch. It wouldn't be long before he was free.

"That is really bad." Danny muttered, diving straight towards the ground, Kim turning and following him a second later. "Guys, are they ok?" He asked frantically, his skin paling to the point where his normal ghostly skin look like a dark tan.

"No, they're not." Gwen responded hastily as Kim hit the ground, turning as pale as Danny when her eyes found Roxas' neck. "If Roxas doesn't get medical attention right now, he's not going to make it."

"But no one here has any form a medical training." Danny cried, his panic only increasing.

"What do we do?"

"Everyone get close." Ben demanded, desperation clear in his voice. "NOW!" He yelled when Danny and Kim didn't move. Jumping at the high volume, Danny and Kim ignored their confusion and did as he said, getting as close to the Tennysons and their wounded friends as possible.

Gwen, already on to what Ben had in mind, handed Rai over to Danny as quickly and gently as she could before raising her glowing hands into the air.

"Albeo Exorior!" From her hands spread a blue dome, encasing them all for a moment before one by one, they all disappeared. When Gwen, the last to go, disappeared, the dome dissipated, leaving nothing but an abandoned, trashed street to witness the explosion of ice and roar energy accompanying a primal roar as Piccolo once again became free.


	6. Secrets Revealed

**Secrets Revealed**

Things were not looking good at Capsule Corp. Upon arrival, Roxas was instantly thrust into the hands of the company's medics, hired due to the frequent accidents that occurred in the labs, but other than clean his wounds and stitch up the one on his neck; they couldn't do much more than put him on life support. He'd lost a fair bit of blood which they couldn't replace without knowing his blood type and the damage to his neck had a serious effect on his breathing. Unable to even attempt to repair the artery in his neck without killing him instantly, he'd need a miracle to see the end of the day.

Sitting beside him, Ben was barely able to hold back his tears. Though the others had thought it best to go through the information Kim had stolen, Ben had entered the medical wing the second the doctors had finished their work and refused to leave. Of all of the Guardians, other than Gwen, Roxas was the one Ben had grown closest to. The blond had a similar past to Kevin, hated and mistreated for being different, making Ben feel the need to reassure Roxas that people did like and care for him, but had a much more innocent personality, showing much more sensitivity and kindness off the battlefield as opposed to Kevin's bad boy act, making him much easier to talk to and joke around with. Roxas was arguably his best friend and it was killing Ben to see him like this.

"All the power held on my wrist and I'm still completely useless." Ben muttered, staring angrily at the Omnitrix. Pulling it up, he activated the controls and turned them back and forth, his actions becoming more and more erratic as he failed to find what he was looking for. "Come ON! I need Grey Matter, he could fix this. He's the smartest alien I ever had, he must know how to fix this." Unfortunately, as expected, the watch failed to give him back the old transformation, leaving Ben sorely tempted to disconnect it from his skin and toss it against the wall.

"Quite the predicament you've found yourself in, isn't it Ben? Of course, you tend to find yourself in quite a number of them." Ben's eyes widened as the cheerful voice behind him turned serious and almost fell to the ground as he jumped out of his chair. Turning to the doorway, he came found himself staring at a middle aged looking man in a lab coat fiddling with a pocket watch.

"Paradox." Ben said softly, a little thrown off as the man in question gave him a sympathetic look. Paradox always looked either serious or chipper when he was talking to Ben so the new expression was a little disconcerting. "What are you doing here?"

"What I can to preserve history. Or rather, the history that has yet to occur." Paradox replied, his gaze turning to Roxas as he entered the room before turning back to Ben. "You recall that, on more than one occasion, it has been mentioned that I've seen you become a truly amazing hero that would one day save the entire galaxy?" He asked. At Ben's nod, he turned his attention to Roxas again. "Well, that future was irreversibly altered months ago when an alternate dimension interfered with the course of history. I believe you know what I'm talking about."

"The Organisation?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow. "That wasn't supposed to happen?"

"No, it wasn't. And as result, you have met and allied with a number of heroes, some you should have led at a much later date and some that you should have never known." Paradox replied. "Everything has changed. On this day, all of the Z Fighters except for Gohan were supposed to be enslaved, as they have been, but when the battle you are now involved in ends, the original time line depicted that the battle between Gohan and the true threat would have ended with everyone, the enemy, the Z Fighters, Justiman and his friends all ending up in an inescapable parallel plain known as the Dead Zone until they died. Now however, all hope for the future rests on Gohan surviving. As well as the other Guardians, Roxas included."

"You're going to help him?" Ben asked hopefully, though a little hesitant to believe it.

"Yes, I am." Paradox grinned, growing amused as Ben let himself believe it and barely holding back from performing a victory dance. "Of all the Guardians, Roxas holds the most important destiny of all. There is a reason that he was named the Key of Destiny. For you see, in his hands lies all of our destinies. Therefore, I am taking him to Galvan Prime to ensure his health."

"Why not just track down Namine and unite them?" Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Because of the brain damage." Paradox sighed. Ben paled considerably at that. "The neck artery supplies the head, and most importantly, the brain with oxygenated blood. However, as you are aware, Roxas' artery is damaged and isn't supplying much to the brain. His brain is slowly suffocating, and Namine can't restore what's been completely lost already. She can save what's still there, but he could very easily become a vegetable, slow thinking or many other possibilities. It will take the Galvan's scientific skills to properly restore him."

"Well, in that case, you should…wait a second, he holds all of our destinies?" Ben asked, astonishment flooding his every thought as what Paradox said before registered in his head.

"Yes, at least a part of him does." Paradox nodded, placing a hand on the boy in question's shoulder before his voice turned grave. "Though he doesn't know it. When the true light within returns, beware the masters of the dark magic. Their arrival will bring death and destruction far greater than anything seen in over ten thousand years. Well, cheerio." He added, turning cheery as he disappeared, taking Roxas along with him. Shocked still and a more than a little scared about what Paradox had to say, Ben stared at where the time traveler had stood for a minute longer before shaking his head with a groan.

"That guy never gives a straight answer. I always just end up with even more questions. And who turns chipper a second after prophesying an apocalypse in the near future?" Throwing his hands up in exasperation, Ben headed out the door. After all, if Paradox was getting the Galvans to take care of Roxas, then Ben could let go of his worry and release his rage at the people indirectly responsible. Gohan would hate him if he turned on Piccolo, whether or not he was under mind control, so the people controlling him would have to do.

…

"Eer, mmh." With a drained moan, onyx eyes slowly opened, but only got halfway before what energy the boy had left disappeared. Not understanding what was wrong, Gohan's half clouded mind slowly felt for every part of his body, trying to find any hints of open wounds releasing too much blood, or injections or anything else that might be sapping his strength.

_Nope, not my hand._ He thought slowly, raising each finger half a centimeter one at a time and feeling no pain before repeating the process higher up the limb. _Not my arm. Not the…other hand. Or the other arm. Not my…what's that?_ Twitching one of his legs, his mind registered some metal and something fuzzy brushing it. Turning his head as fast as he could, which in this case was slower than your average slug's motion, he caught a glimpse of something long, brown and hairy cuffed and chained before his strength disappeared again and his his head dropped to the floor once again. _Weird. What could that…_ His line of thought stopped instantly as it registered in what was left of his mind. It was his tail. They'd clamped it and left the rest of his limbs free. _That's weird._ He frowned trying to understand. _I could get free. If I wasn't weak…I could snap the chain. But…grabbing my tail makes me powerless. How do they know that?_ Unable to move enough to scratch his head or concentrate hard enough to solve the mystery, he let his head drop with a sigh. All he could do was lay there until someone came for him.

…

"The whole building seems to have been compromised." A man muttered, fiddling nervously with his lab coat and refusing to look at Dr Hill. "Everywhere, but the basement. The rooms on the ground and upper floors Kim Possible and Danny Phantom entered were all trashed in the battle, Kim was discovered in one of the main computer rooms and the door to the other was discovered to have been disconnected from the wall, meaning someone got there too. Other than Saiyaman, the Guardians would have acquired everything they needed."

"DAMNIT!" Dr Hill roared, throwing his fist across a table and destroying a number of beakers and pipettes. "This is a disaster! Excluding the blonds, each Valour Guardian comes from a team. At the very least, they'll put every metahuman they know on alert and may even have them come to take us on. After reporting us to the authorities that is. They'll even know who the master is and where to find him. And to top it all off, now I have to tell him all of this!"

Hiding in the background, a boy couldn't stop a smirk from crossing his lightly tanned face. The building had become a war zone, he'd finally got all of the information he needed, he was still able to blend in with the crowd due to the panicking workers, despite the Guardians high concentrations of unusual power not covering his from Videl's senses, what data he hadn't collected the Guardians had and the guy in charge had just given him the location of one of his last two objectives within the building. _It won't be long now._ He thought as he headed down the hallway, checking the last few rooms for what was rightfully his. _I'll head down to the basement just as soon as I…_ Turning through a doorway, his train of thought ceased as his smirk turned into a huge smile. There laying on a desk at the end of the room was his prize. The metal arm of Justiman. Closing the door behind him, he made a beeline for his toy, shedding his lab coat, shirt and pants along the way, revealing the purple and white spandex underneath. Pulling his left glove out of the pants' pocket before throwing them to the ground, he lowered his sleeves and encased his hand just as he reached the table.

"It's a pity that someone will see my face." He sighed, putting a hand through his spiky hair as the other hit a hidden button on the metal arm. The opening that rested around his shoulder widened a second later, making it easier to slip his arm through. He sighed again, this time in relief, as the hole shrunk again, fitting firmly, but comfortably around his shoulder as he focused some of his energy through it and brought it to life, grinning mischievously as purplish blue covered his fist like electricity.

"If I use the conventional route to the basement, they'll have the super girl, the green guy and who knows who else after me long before I get there. So let's take a shortcut." Pulling his fist back, he slammed it into the ground. A joyful laugh left his lips as his actions made all of what remained of the building shake.

…

"So, now the Guardians know everything." The cold voice coming through the speakers was enough to make even Dr Hill shiver with fear. It was all over for him now, he knew it. Not only was the master take away all of the power he was promised, but for this travesty, he would be lucky to still be breathing come next sunrise.

However, much to his surprise, the dark one's face actually broke out into a smile. Again, it filled him with terror, but at the same time he felt confusion and hope. Perhaps his prays for mercy had been answered after all.

"This could work to our advantage." The dark one sneered, strengthening Dr Hill's hope. "We have the world's most powerful heroes already. We'll have to infect Gohan immediately, but then we can capture the greatest heroes of the new generation and through them, the rest. And through the combined magics of Lucky Girl, the Key of Destiny and any other spell casters they know, I might even be able to free my father." He added, falling into a cackling fit.

"Shall I send all of the metahumans to your location then sir?" Dr Hill asked, his confidence returning.

"Not all of them." Was the response, confusing Dr Hill. "Even without Gohan, and one or two too injured to fight, allowing them all to come here would be risky with the information they've acquired. They mustn't be left to plan. Send Piccolo and Videl after them."

"I'm sending the order now." Dr Hill replied, tapping away at the keyboard. "All of the metahumans will be on their way to their destinations in a few moments."

"Good." The master nodded. "Then infect Gohan and move everything to the nearest secure location before any other security issues occur."

"But…" Dr Hill started, but the screen was already dead. "We don't have any more locations." He finished with a growl. Rubbing his temples, he turned towards the door, only to scream as a sudden quake knocked him to the ground. "Oomph! Oh, what now?"

…

Gohan groaned pitifully as he shook a chunk of the floorboards off of his head, a noticeable bump growing within his hair as light flooded the cell, blinding him.

"W-what's going on?" He mumbled, squinting in an attempt to see. He could just make out a shadow dropping in front of him, looking down at him with its head tilted curiously.

"Um, why haven't you walked out of here yet? And how did that falling piece of wood manage to hurt you?" The figure asked. The voice seemed familiar to him, but his cloud covered mind couldn't place it. However, he did process enough to feel that he could trust whoever he was talking to.

"They constricted my tail." He answered, sounding like a moping child. "Doing that makes me powerless. I can…barely think or…move my fingers."

"Wow, the strongest hero of our generation has a tail. And it can be used to take him down in seconds." The figure said amusedly, holding back a laugh as he stepped forward. Gohan's eyes adjusted to the light just as the figure reached over him and carefully broke the cuff off of his tail with his left hand while making not to hurt his tail, revealing a boy with brown, spiky hair, blue eyes clad in purple spandex and a very recognizable metal arm.

"Justiman!" Gohan cried, his mind instantly coming back to full alert, his body doing the same the second his companion leaned back. "Where's your helmet and armour? And where are we?"

"In order, hidden in my back pack two blocks away and inside the company's now crumbling building. The building was damaged significantly when Videl attacked Kim Possible and Danny Phantom. Both are alright from what I know." Justiman replied, both the questions asked and unspoken answered. "Now we need to get out of here and find your friends. The crooks will be here any second and from what I've learned of their plans, we'll need all the help we can get."

"Alright, let's fly." Wrapping an arm around Justiman, he flared his aura and flew straight up, letting the flaring energy blow away every speck of debris before it even touched them, and into the sky, traumatizing every member of G Junior Corp. as they went by.

Dr Hill in particular, looked like he was going to have a heart attack as he watched them fly by. It didn't help that the wailing sirens of police cars had arrived just outside the building. Looking down as they flew overhead, Justiman could only smirk. It had been easy to convince the cops of what was going on and it marked those slime balls' end. His smirk only grew bigger as Dr Hill just closed his eyes with a look of defeat.

Stopping only long enough for Justiman to grab his bag and throw his helmet on, Gohan flew straight towards Capsule Corp., easily identifying the unusual powers he sensed there.

…

As Ben entered Bulma's office, he instantly turned wary. Everyone in the room before him looked as if they were about to freak out as they stared at the large monitor depicting a vial of some reddish brown liquid. Next to the picture was a lot of writing detailing the substance, however, one word near the top caught Ben's eye and made him freeze the second he saw it. Gohan.

"What did they do to Gohan?" He cried, not noticing when his cry made everyone jump. "What is that stuff? Is he ok?"

"Calm down Ben, Gohan…well, this stuff won't hurt him at least." Danny said hastily, more than a little worried. When Ben got that worried, he charged at the threat and Danny didn't want to risk facing Rath right now. He shivered at the thought; even to a ghost Rath was scary when he was gunning for you. "If they used that on him they'd only strengthen him."

"Say what?" Ben asked, immediately turning from panicked to confused.

"It's what G Junior Corp. has been cooking up and why they've been capturing metahumans." Bulma responded, bringing up pictures of Gohan, Piccolo, Gallant, Tech and Sakuya. "Blood was taken from each of these guys and added successfully to the formula. A formula that alters the being it is injected into.

"What? How so- WHOA!" Ben cried, tumbling to the ground with the others as an explosion rocked the building. "What's going on?"

"Um…AAHH! Videl and Piccolo just blasted a huge hole into the far wing of the building!" Bulma screamed, trembling as she brought up the building's security cameras just before another explosion, courtesy of Piccolo, forced everyone back to the ground. "They'll kill everyone in the building in minutes at this rate."

"I got it, meet me outside guys." Gwen ordered before disappearing with a flash of blue. With nothing else they could do, Ben and Danny did as she said, Danny grabbing Ben and phasing them through the wall.

"You're not going too?" Bulma asked with a raised eyebrow as she stared at the red headed heroine. It wasn't like Kim to avoid a fight, not matter who it was against.

"Not this time." Kim sighed, taking a seat in one of the chairs as the shaking stopped. "With the battlesuit on the fritz and no offensive or defensive magical artifacts, I'd just get in the way if I took on someone like Videl or Piccolo. Those guys don't even feel my punches. It's better if I sit this one out."

"And it's bothering you?" Bulma said more than asked, looking at the young girl sympathetically.

"Yeah. But at the same time, even Jake and Rai would be in same position, as proven by Rai's unconscious form, so I'm not about to let it bother me too much." Kim replied with a grin. Turning to the window, her expression changed to one of hope. Hope that Ben, Gwen and Danny actually did have what it takes to stop two out of control Z Fighters.

…

Gwen made quick work of her job. Appearing just behind the two mind slaves, she cast another teleportation spell before they could even finish turning around, leaping back away from them as they reappeared in the large open field just behind the yellow, dome shaped building. The boys dropped from the sky a second later, white rings appearing around Danny and Ben raising the Omnitrix.

"I think West City's seen enough death and destruction today." Danny growled as his hair turned white, the rings disappearing a second later.

"Brainstorm!" Ben exclaimed as his form transformed into that of an alien crustacean in a flash of green light. "Do not try your hands against us. I believe you will find your animalistic natures unable to compare with our intellectual capabilities."

"Don't get cocky Ben." Gwen muttered, not taking her eyes off of their targets. "They have the same type of power Gohan does and Piccolo is even stronger than him, not to mention more experienced. We have to tread very carefully here."

"True, so let's test their reaction times." Ben replied cockily, raising a pincer. "And bang." A lightning bolt immediately left the pincer, heading straight for the Z Fighters. Piccolo, sensing the attack coming, had no trouble avoiding the shot, however, it was far too fast for Videl to avoid.

"ARGH!" She screamed, the electricity running wild over her body as she fell from the sky.

"Well, we have just proven that her speed and tolerance for my elemental capabilities is insufficient to match my talent on the battlefield." Ben gloated, preparing to fire another bolt.

However, he was thrown off guard as Piccolo appeared right before him and landed a solid kick right to his overly large head, throwing him off his feet and into the wall hard.

"But his are." Gwen growled, jumping in the way as Piccolo continued his assault and throwing up a force field. Unfortunately, one fist from the Nemakian powerhouse was enough to shatter it like glass.

"Then let's use him." Danny responded, his body turning intangible as he leapt at Piccolo. "ARGH!" Only to cry out in pain as an energy blast made contact, blowing him right into Ben as he tried to get up. Turning to where it came from, the boys found a smoking and very ticked off Videl.

"DIE CRAB!" She roared, her aura bursting forth wildly as she made a beeline right for the shape shifter.

"Insufficient tactic." Was Ben's calm response as his skull opened up, revealing an electrical current dancing over his brain. Videl only just managed to pull back at the last second as the lightning burst forth, creating what looked like a web of electricity protectively surrounding Brainstorm and Danny. A second later, two Danny clones appeared out of the ground, both aiming glowing, green fists for Videl's gut, only for Videl to respond with a Ki encased roundhouse kick, destroying both clones instantly before creating an energy ball the size of a small car over her head and tossing it right at the boys.

"Not good!" Danny cried, adding an ecto shield behind Ben's electrical one just before the ball made contact. The resulting explosion to both shields down.

"Ooohh!" Ben moaned, his pincers covering his temples as his body sunk low to the ground. "That preposterously loud result of radical energy has short-circuited my mental abilities with the difficulty of immense irritation."

"You mean you got a migraine?" Danny exclaimed with exasperation, creating three clones and sending one off to help Gwen while he and the other two stepped protectively in front of Ben. "Complain later, fight now." All three Dannys snapped.

"If I must." Ben sighed as both clones shot ice daggers Videl's way while the true Danny shot an ecto blast, nailing her shoulder. "But this form is useless with my head trauma, so…Chromastone!" He cried as a tap on the Omnitrix released a flash of green light, revealing a purple, crystalline being in Brainstorm's place. "Let's see if this works out better."

Raising both hands, Ben released two rainbow beams right at Videl, only for her to dodge and throw a beam at the Danny clones, destroying them both. However, she failed to notice the rainbow beam released from his horn and had the air knocked out of her as it struck her gut. Coughing and spluttering, she never noticed the four beams coming from Chromastone's spikes and was blown painfully from the sky.

"Wow, you handled her well." Danny complimented, a little surprised. "I didn't know that this alien was as strong as a Saiyan."

"It's not, but I do believe that its tough body and energy absorbing nature makes it a threat to them." Ben replied, all signs of Brainstorm's cocky nature gone. "I should be able to hold her at bay for a while. You should go help Gwen. After all, Piccolo is the one who put both Roxas and Raimundo into serious conditions."

"Got ya. But be careful." Danny cautioned, taking off. Not that Ben needed the reminder. Chromastone's mindset was calm and realistic. He'd already figured that even his powers would have issues facing off against Videl's.

Not far away, Gwen's battle appeared bleak. Piccolo's strength and speed were far beyond Gwen's capabilities and she was only still alive due to her constant and unpredictable spell casting. Wind, flame throwers, force fields, conjuring, bursts of raw magic, she had cast every spell she knew, yet still the attacks came, fists, thick nails and kicks coming at her from every angle, followed by the occasional Ki blast.

"Apendija Rigoria!" Gwen gasped, clenching her eyes tightly mid-spell as Piccolo thrust his nails right at them. However, she sighed in relief when nothing struck and she opened her eyes to see her spell had worked. Though he was still glaring maliciously at her, his arm had dropped to his side and he wasn't moving an inch.

"Thank God. Now to end this." She gasped, raising her glowing hand. However, before she could do anything, a pair of thin, yellow beam burst forth from Piccolo's eyes. "Argh!" Gwen screamed as the beams struck the very center of her extended palm, burning her flesh. The pain was so intense that she never noticed Piccolo's eyes glowing again, this time focusing on her jugular.

"Don't even think about it you overgrown insect!" Piccolo's eyes went blank white as a powerful punch crashed right into the top of his skull, causing him pain in two areas as his upper teeth crashed down onto his tongue.

Not wasting a second, the Danny clone twisted his body in midair and landed right in front of Piccolo before taking a deep breath and unleashing a ghostly wail.

"AAAARRRGGGHHH!" Piccolo's acute hearing made the wail even more effective than usual, completely ruining any chance Piccolo had of concentrating and fixing the situation as the ecto charged sound waves blew him away, far across the open field and into the path of a bus. As the attack ended, the clone had just enough time to sigh before he turned into a puff of green smoke, his energy depleted.

"Thank God." Gwen puffed, taking a moment to relax. "This guy is as fast as Jetray and stronger than Gohan. And highly intelligent to boot! I don't stand a chance against him."

"Alone, no. With help, maybe." Danny responded, landing next to her much to her relief as Piccolo pulled himself to his feet.

Roaring with pure rage, Piccolo flew right at them, energy quickly gathering in his palm. However, Danny would have nothing of it and sucked in as much air as he could before releasing a ghostly wail just as his clone had. Once again, Piccolo was sent careening backwards, his roar changing to one of unbearable agony as he clasped his hands over his ears and smashed into the ground.

"This…is good." Danny gasped as his attacked died, hunching over with his hands on his knees. "Those big ears of his make my ghostly wail the perfect…weapon against him. We could win."

But Piccolo would have none of it. Jumping back to his feet again, he shot the ghost boy a venomous look as he grabbed his ears. A second later, Gwen and Danny gasped in shock as a he ripped them right off, purple blood leaving trails down the sides of his head.

"WHAT THE? WHY would he do THAT?" Danny cried, caught between fear and nausea at the sight.

"He really is tough." Gwen exclaimed, shaking as she stared at him. "He was even willing to mutilate himself to win and he did it without the slightest glimpse of pain crossing his face. Now, your wail won't be nearly as affective on him."

"Then we better come up with a better plan fast." Danny cried, barely going intangible before Piccolo appeared out of thin air with his fist flying through his head.

"Incendio!" Gwen cried, releasing a flamethrower from her hands. Unperturbed, Piccolo merely screamed, his aura coming forth erratically and acting as a shield from the flames before returning fire with a blast of his own, striking her firmly in shoulder.

"ARGH!" Danny could only watch as the blast spun her whole body in the air on the way to the ground before he was forced to leap back from a karate chop from Piccolo, his Ki visible around his hand like a blade.

"Freeze antenna head!" Danny cried, mentally berating himself for the lame line as his eyes glowed icy blue, his hands following a second later and releasing a wave of icy energy with a cross chop motion right at Piccolo.

"That won't happen again." Piccolo growled, yellow and orange energy appearing around his hands. "Rapid fire!" The first energy blast, a rather large one, blew a large whole right through the icy wave before what appeared to be an endless barrage of energy bursts flew right at Danny.

"Eep!" Terrified, Danny threw up his hands and created a disk shaped shield, grunting as the first wave of the assault struck it. The power of each burst was intense, despite their small size, making maintaining the shield an extremely difficult feat. Between that and the explosive flashes at the point of contact, Danny never noticed the yellow orange flashes moving around him.

"DANNY, LOOK OUT!" Danny gasped at the sound of Gwen's panicked voice and looked around just in time to see the he was surrounded by floating energy balls before, with a wave of Piccolo's hands, they simultaneously surged right for him.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!" His scream echoed throughout a mile radius as the multiple energy balls collided with him, creating an explosion that's appearance duplicated the sun. Barely conscious, his smoking form plummeted from the sky, only stopping when his body was encased in the gentle grip of Gwen's magic and placed carefully on the ground before the sorceress turned to the Namek with a look of pure rage.

"Sinnyu Invisibus!" Gwen shouted, aiming her palms at the ground. A second later, large, glowing chunks the size of small cars broke free with a bang and flew right at Piccolo with the speed of a bullet. Unphased, Piccolo flew straight at and through them, leaving them crumbling to the ground. However, he found himself falling for the same trick he had just administered: deception. For when he blew through the last chunk of earth, it was to find Gwen's already charging hands right up in his face.

"Mercuchus Veridaitus!" The resulting blue energy beam struck him at point blank range and tore at his flesh as he was sent flying back painfully in the opposite direction.

His rage increasing, Piccolo forced himself to ignore the pain and placed his hands before him as his aura flared again, holding the beam back. With another scream, he ended his flight by releasing a beam of his own, easily pushing Gwen's back. Unable to do much else, Gwen dug her feet into the ground and focused more of her energy into her beam, minimizing the ground Piccolo's beam could take back and leaving them in a power struggle, neither able to back off without being struck down by the other's attack.

"HHAAA!" Videl screamed, diving with a fierce right hook. Crossing his arms, Ben grunted as he blocked the attack, his feet digging up the earth until he was ankle deep as he slid back. Throwing arms back, he pushed her away before retaliating with a right hook of his own only for her to enhance on her momentum and back out of his arm's reach. In response, released a rainbow beam from his fist which she countered with a blast of her own.

Using her attack as cover, Ben ended his own and ran right at her. Videl smirked at the action, only to gasp as he ran effortlessly through her beam and threw a left hook right into her gut. Winded and gasping for breath, she was unable to avoid the following uppercut to her jaw or the rainbow energy ball that exploded from the fist still implanted in her gut.

"Oomph…grr." Bouncing away like a ball, her shoulders, hips and back created many dents in the previously smooth field before rolling to a stop against the one tree. Coughing and spitting up blood, the forced herself shakily up onto all fours, glare maliciously at Ben the whole time.

"You are not strong enough to break my crystalline body and your Ki attacks are useless against a being that absorbs energy. Stay down, you cannot win this fight." Ben stated calmly, making no move to approach Videl.

His words only seemed to enrage Videl even more. Releasing an animalistic scream, her aura flared to life and she disappeared seconds before a blur heralded what felt like a kick to Ben's head. Ben stumbled around as the attack repeated itself, Videl moving faster than Ben could see and crashing her hands and feet into various places on Ben's body. Though not hurt, the invisible barrage was starting to irritate the crystalline being. Having enough as he tripped and fell, he made his whole body glow with rainbow energy and released it in a brutal flash just as another kick landed on his shoulder.

"AARRRGGHH!" Videl screamed, blinded and consumed by the raw power before being flung back into a street light. However, she refused to stay down. Though her limbs could no longer pull her back to her feet, she levitated herself into a standing position and drew upon all of her remaining power, glaring painfully but heatedly at Chromastone.

"Are you trying to die?" Ben asked incredulously, disbelief visible in his stance. "You aren't likely to survive another round."

"I don't care. If I have to die to achieve the goals the master has set for me, then so be it." Videl snapped raggedly, her aura flaring even wilder as her fists were encased in blue orbs. With a primal scream, she shot on direct course for Ben, aiming for his head. Sighing sadly, all Ben could do was pray that she survived this last assault.

Videl came in quicker than he expected, leaving him unprepared for the diagonally swinging fist that struck his head and gasped painfully as he flew back and down to the ground. The blow was so intense that it actually broke off some shards from his cheek, leaving a gash half an inch deep. Before he could recover, Videl struck her other fist right into his knee as hard as she could, shattering what passed for his kneecap.

Screaming in pain, Ben did the only think that came to mind and, gathering all the energy he'd absorbed from Videl's last energy beam, released a devastating blast from his chest. Her screech echoed throughout the area, mixing with Danny's as the blast went off.

Concerned for Videl's well being as her motionless form hit the ground a few feet away, Ben focused all of his energy into regenerating his knee and rushed over to her. Kneeling beside her, he watched her intensely, looking for any sign of life. Not seeing any, he put his hands in place for CPR and was about to turn back to normal when she rose slightly with her breathing. Sighing with more than a little relief, Ben gently lifted her up and took her safely behind of a nearby building and motioned for a man inside to take care of her before running back to the battle zone, scared for Gwen's safety amidst the blue and yellow power struggle.

Gwen's lip began to bleed as she bit down, trying desperately to control her fear. Piccolo's beam was gaining momentum as hers weakened. Her stamina had reached its limit and it was only adrenaline and pure terror that allowed her to hold Piccolo's attack back at all. Her panic doubled as the yellow beam got within a foot to her and she almost collapsed from shaking so much.

_This is bad! If that blast reaches me, I'll die._ She thought, her eyes widening, revealing pure terror to Piccolo's triumphant, blood thirsty gaze as her hands visibly shook, even from her opponent's distance. But it only got worse. As the yellow beam reached only half a foot from her, her reserves completely gave out. Going into shock, her beam ended and her hands dropped to her sides, leaving her completely defenseless.

However, fate had other plans, for just at that moment, Chromastone threw himself in the way, taking the full force of the attack.

"Ben!" Gwen shouted, extremely relieved before a grunt from Ben reached her ears. "Ben, what's wrong?"

"This attack…there's a lot of power behind it." He grunted, digging his feet into the ground. "More than I've ever absorbed before. But don't worry." Turning his eye to the now scowling Nemak, Ben raised his hands and let his body radiate with rainbow light for a moment before releasing five beams, two from his hands, two from the spikes protruding from his chest and one from his horn.

Growling fiercely, Piccolo ended his attack and leapt into the air, completely avoiding Ben's assault.

"You think you have what it takes to stop me?" He screeched, bringing two fingers to his forehead. Despite his current form and the nature of Piccolo's power, Ben couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine as the energy sparking to life around his fingers made his eyes glow even more demonically. "I don't care how much power you can absorb, this will destroy you. SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!"

Ben was astounded, impressed and scared enough to faint all at once. He didn't have the slightest talent for sensing energy, but even he could tell just how much danger he was in as Piccolo thrust his fingers right at him. The yellow and purple beam, surround by a spiral of energy just as powerful as its straight counterpart, was small, but anyone could see the incredible power it held. The fact that it was compacted into such a small form only made it even more intense and despite never having the problem before, Ben was confident that even Chromastone would have great difficulty surviving. Tensing his body, he braced himself and thrust his hands out, trying to protect his chest, the beam's true target. Piccolo's psychotic laughter filled the area as the beam cannon crashed into its target.

On the other side of the battlefield, Ben was barely holding back a scream. The beam was specifically designed to shred right through anything it made contact with and with the amount of power compacted into it, it was doing its job. Ben couldn't absorb the energy nearly fast enough and his hands were chipping and cracking. A second later, an agonized scream struck everyone's ears as Ben's hands completely shattered , leaving more than half the energy of the beam cannon left with a direct course for the Omnitrix.

Not willing to let that happen, Ben gathered and released every drop of energy he'd absorbed from his chest, creating a struggle of power between the two energy attacks. The beam cannon still managed to break through and struck home, however, the spiral half was completely gone and what remained was just enough to send Chromastone crashing back into the earth.

"You're still alive?" Piccolo snarled, his fangs glistening as he growled. Though he was panting heavily, visibly drained, he refused to stop. His master wanted them, dead or alive, and like Videl, he wasn't going to stop until it was done. However, it seemed as luck was on his side, for at that moment, the Omnitrix flashed red before encasing Ben's whole body within the light, returning him to normal. He had his hands back in perfect condition, but he was still drained and that was enough for Piccolo. "Hahaha! Try surviving this time!" Laughing coldly, he dived at the slowly rising, terrified and screaming shape shifter, his hand preparing to claw right through Ben's chest.

"Thunder Clap!" Piccolo's eyes went wide and his pupils dilated as a large, metal palm slammed into his back, releasing thunderous energy as it did so. The intensity of the blow altered his course to straight down and like a rocket, he crashed down…right into a fist. Choking, turning bug eyed and spitting up blood, Piccolo found himself unable to even scream at the pain he was feeling. As his head dropped, he got one glimpse of messy, black hair before his vision turned dark.

_Gohan._ Was the only emotionless thought to cross his head as his consciousness gave out.

"Looks like we got here just in time." Justiman commented, kneeling down next to Danny. "This one's pretty banged up, but his wounds are already showing signs of healing. Are they old or something?"

"No, he just heals much faster than most people." Gohan answered, placing Piccolo down. Giving him a quick check over and finding nothing his regeneration wouldn't fix, he turned his attention to the Tennysons. "Hey guys, are you two ok?"

"Yeah, just overtaxed." Gwen nodded, helping Ben to his feet. "It's good to see you're ok too." She added, offering the Saiyan a small smile. "We were all really worried about you. We thought you'd at least be under their control by now."

"Nope, I was just left to stew in a cell." Gohan replied with a shrug before a look of worry returned to his face. "But what about Videl, Rai, Kim and Roxas? Justiman said they were all involved with battles here and/or at the building too."

"Kim's with Bulma and is perfectly fine and Rai should be fine when he wakes up. He has bruises, a few stitches and tender points, but nothing life threatening." Gwen responded, looking a little uncomfortable. A fact that Gohan quickly picked on.

"What about the other two?" He asked, a little more urgently this time. Gwen's hesitation to answer had only increased his fears.

"Videl's looking bad, but she would have been taken to a doctor by now." Ben stated, frowning at the ground. "She looked about as bad as Piccolo does when I got her out of the area. As for Roxas…if he had stayed on Earth, he'd probably be dead by now."

"WHAT?" Gohan screamed, his panic taking over.

"What do you mean 'if he stayed on Earth'?" Gwen asked confusedly. Last time she'd checked, he was still in the med wing.

"Paradox jumped in to save his life and took him to Galvan Prime." Ben replied, finally looking up at the group. "He said that Roxas is too important to die now. That he holds all of our destinies, so he stepped in."

"Who's Paradox?" Gohan asked, not sure whether to be relieved or not. "And where's Galvan Prime?"

"Let's deal with that later." Justiman interrupted, drawing all three teens' attention as he approached, holding Danny firmly in his arms. "Enhanced healing or not, these wounded guys should probably get checked out by a doctor. And we have a lot of things to discuss about this whole situation."

"You're right." Gwen nodded. Waiting only long enough for Gohan to pick up Piccolo, she turned back to Capsule Corp.'s main building and silently lead them through the damaged structure, right to where they left Rai.

…...

As expected, Bulma already had the entire medical team ready for the extra patients when they reached the medical wing and they got to work the second Danny and Piccolo were placed down.

Gohan let out a breath that he didn't know he was holding when he saw Videl laying comfortably on the far side of the room, a doctor just finishing tying a few bandages and making sure that the sedative they were injecting her with was working before joining the others.

He was however, a little annoyed when two doctors, noticing the state of all four conscious heroes, insisted that they be checked over before finding Bulma. Conceding to their demands, the four sat down and forced themselves to relax, pulling their clothes back or off as the doctors inspected and cleaned every wound that they could. By the time they were released, even Ben and Gwen were feeling their strength coming back, something that came in very handy as they headed hastily to Bulma's office.

"Oh good, you're all here. Well, except Danny." Bulma said, smiling warmly as her eyes found Gohan's "And it's good to see that you're not a psychotic powerhouse out to destroy us all. Are you ok Gohan?"

"I'm fine, don't worry Bulma." Gohan smiled back before scanning over the others in the room. His eyes crossed with the very relieved ones of Kim unphased, however, as for the third person in the room… "Raimundo? I thought you were still in the med wing."

"Nah, I busted out when they brought in Videl." Rai responded, waving it off. "Besides, I'm just a little sore. Nothing Namine couldn't fix in five seconds if she'd ever move to somewhere with a signal. So I take it that you're this Justiman we've been hearing about?" He asked, turning a welcoming smile to Gohan's new friend.

"That's me. But you guys can call me Ryo." He replied, smiling charmingly at everyone in the room as he placed his helmet and metal arm on a nearby table.

"Well then, it's a pleasure to meet you Ryo, and thank you for saving our fearless leader." Rai replied, shaking his hand.

"No problem, though I wish this meeting was under better circumstances." Ryo stated before turning to Kim and Bulma. "So what information did you guys get on G Junior Corp.?"

"We've acquired data on their experiments." Bulma started, all signs of happiness disappearing as she brought the information back up. "They have been working on a formula that gives people new abilities, any and all that are within the formula. Even someone who already has abilities can gain more from it.

"How do they get abilities in a liquid compound?" Gohan asked, staring confusedly up at the screen.

"By taking DNA samples from metahumans." Kim answered as Bulma brought up the five pictures before. "That's part of why they are capturing metahumans. Once they have them, they take some of their blood and work it into the formula. If it goes in successfully, then every ability the suppliers have is given to whoever is injected with the formula."

"That's what you meant when you said using this on Gohan would have only made him stronger." Ben commented. "It would have made him unstoppable."

"If this formula has been successfully completed." Ryo stated, biting his lip.

"That's the problem, it has." Gwen sighed. "It's been proven successful, though they killed the guinea pig because he turned against them, and they've already sent a vial of it containing all five DNA samples to a mountain out in the wasteland. The mastermind behind this has probably gotten it by now."

"Oh man! How many abilities will it give him?" Ben cried, paling.

"Ki manipulation, flight, super strength, speed and tolerance, energy sensing, Piccolo's regeneration and Gohan's ability to grow stronger after every battle and injury from the Z Fighters, enhanced strength and tolerance and lightning from Gallant, spiritual energy manipulation and the ability to summon and control spirits from Sakuya and enhanced strength again from Tech, in addition to technopathy." Bulma answered, reading off a list on the screen.

"Let's hope only one of those strength increases applies here." Rai muttered, dropping his jaw. "Otherwise, he'll be able to pick up that mountain."

"Especially since he's already super strong." Ryo added softly. Everyone stiffened at that.

"What? You know who this guy is?" Kim asked, her voice quivering. The fact only made it worse for the group. No matter what they'd faced before, Kim never faltered. If she was visibly scared, then they were in serious trouble.

"While you were fighting, I went to the overly protected room you missed." Ryo started, nodding his head. "It had a record of their activities and identities. Its files stated that the company controls a total of six metahumans, my friends and three Z Fighters, by using a substance known as concentrated black water mist."

"Concentrated black water mist?" Ben frowned. "I've never heard of it. Have you Gwen?"

"No. I doubt even Kevin has." Gwen shook her head. "This sounds elemental, not the mechanical tech that Kevin researches."

"Black water mist is apparently a gas that normally would spread around the entire planet and infect everyone who breathed it in, turning them into the creator's personal, violent army. Anyone bitten by someone infected becomes infected too, like a vampire." Ryo stated, a forlorn look plastered on his face. "The concentrated version is a bit different. "There isn't nearly as much of it, so in order to infect a decent number of people, the source has to put close to the person you want to enslave. It's a lot harder to resist, almost impossible in fact. The same is said for its less concentrated form, however, some species, like Nemaks, are left unaffected by the weaker version. But the immunity is made useless by the more concentrated form."

"And what did you find out about the man behind all of this?" Ben asked, not sure that he wanted the answer.

"Whoever it is, he knew about Piccolo's resistance to the mist and that my tail is my greatest weakness." Gohan growled, his tail twitching around his waist.

_Tail?_ The other Guardians thought simultaneously, staring incredulously at the furry limb wrapped around Gohan's waist. However, the tension they were all feeling stopped them from asking where it came from.

"That means he knows a lot about the Z Fighters." Gohan finished with a growl.

"That's because he's fought them before. And he wants revenge, on you in particular." Ryo said, watching as Gohan's eyes widened before turning fearful. "Does the name Garlic Jr. ring any bells?"

"WHAT? He's back?" Gohan shouted, his fear turning to rage. "I thought that nut job said imprisonment in the Dead Zone was eternal."

_The Dead Zone?_ Ben thought, his mind returning to his conversation with Paradox. _So Gohan's faced it before. Good, at least one of us knows exactly how to avoid it, even if he'll need help doing it._

"Apparently the source of his power, the Makyo Star, has come close to Earth and as a result, he's far more powerful then he was the last time you fought him. The Star's power was so great that it freed him from this Dead Zone and now he's back for vengeance."

"And he's making himself unstoppable while he's at it." Kim sighed, resting her head on her hand.

"Not a problem." Gohan said firmly, cracking his knuckles. "They only have three Z Fighters under their control and we have two of them. So either Dad or Vegeta are fine. We grab the one we've got and go capture Garlic Jr. And then we put him in a prison that he'll never escape."

"Only one problem, you're the only Z Fighter still able to fight him." Ryo said hesitantly, biting his lip as he looked away, refusing to meet Gohan's questioning eyes. "The files say that they infected Vegeta and after that…they used all of the enslaved to…"

"To what?" Gohan said softly, his throat going dry and his skin turning as white as a sheet. He was already connecting the dots himself, but he just couldn't believe it. He wouldn't believe it. Barely stopping himself from breaking down, he focused solely on his senses, trying desperately to find his father's energy. It was an easy one to find, it was so much stronger than anyone else's. Where was it?

"Why can't I sense dad?" He asked hesitantly, his voice shaking worse than an earthquake. Tears were already forming in his eyes and his heart was beating heavily against his chest as every little detail stripped away more and more of his denial.

No one could talk within the room as what had happened sunk in. At her desk, Bulma's shoulders were visibly shaking as she held onto the table for support, rivers already pouring from her eyes.

Kim bit her lip so hard that it bled as her eyes turned watery, unable to hide her sympathy and sadness for him. Rai was no better off.

Ben and Gwen dropped their heads sadly, both in respect for the fallen hero and in sadness for Gohan. Having thought that they'd watched their Grandfather blow himself up for a long period of time, they knew exactly how Gohan felt.

"I'm sorry Gohan." Despite not having known him for even a full day yet, Ryo still felt horrible for the Saiyan and hated himself for having to tell him the one thing he didn't want to hear. Gohan was said to be possibly the kindest person that you'd ever meet, always willing to help others without expecting anything in return. He didn't deserve this. "You can't find him because…Garlic Jr. had Piccolo and Vegeta kill him."

That was it for Gohan. The dams within him all snapped and water poured down his face in steams. His knees shook like jackhammers and his breathing turned ragged before with a agonized scream, he fell to ground and sobbed, his whole body shaking as he continued to scream. Unable to stand it, Bulma forced herself up from her seat and shakily moved to his side, wrapping her arms around him in the most comforting hug she could muster as her tears mixed with his. Their hearts breaking with Gohan and Bulma's, Kim, Rai, Ben, Gwen and Ryo all moved in and sat down around the hysterical duo and each played a hand on their shoulders and backs, rubbing comfortingly. It was all they could do. Words wouldn't help here and a group hug in that position would have just been awkward. However, as they all sat there, watching Gohan completely break down, two thoughts crossed their minds. The first was to help Gohan in any way they could. And the second was that Garlic Jr. was going to pay for what he had done.


	7. A Saiyan's Rage Part 1

**AN:** Just thought I'd take the time to say thankyou to the people who reviewed my series lately and add it/me to their favourites. it's very much appreciated and it makes me a lot more motivated to continue. Which is good cause I've plans running around in my head for about three seasons worth of stories. Don't know if I'll get that far with how long these take to right, but I do wanna try and finish the season 1/developing connections arc this year. we'll see how we go. well, I've held you up long enough. later

* * *

**A Saiyan's Rage Part 1: Assault On The Mountain**

Deep within the wasteland stood a mountain that reached for the heavens. No land structure around it came close to its height, making it the perfect location for a headquarters. Few could reach the top and the rocky edges protected what existed further within the mountain top's radius from the view of anyone below them. It was for that reason that an ancient, long deceased society constructed a castle at the very centre, a building that Garlic Jr. had eagerly taken as his home.

The dwarf of a demon had a great deal of fondness for the place. In addition to its location and build to last design, it blended in perfectly with the landscape, the outside looking desolate and depressing. It didn't look like anyone was there and it looked as depressing as Garlic intended to make the Earth. Add that to the cameras he had installed around the area and the power he and his minions possessed, no one could find him and leave alive. He couldn't think of anywhere better to begin his world domination.

"Master Garlic, your new servants are approaching." Garlic Jr.'s elf-like ears perk up at that as he walked out of the main entrance and into the courtyard. There before him, a large man kneeled before him. The man was very big and bulky, with purple skin and dark brown hair flowing from under a Viking helmet. Like his master, two, elf-like ears pointed out of the sides of his head.

"Very good. Show them in Vinegar." Garlic replied, turning lazily to man kneel off to his left. "Spice, ensure that the next batch of Black Water Mist is ready. I am sure that at least one hero will be left standing after the fight with Piccolo and the Saiyan girl and he will call for backup. I want to be ready to infect every single one of them."

"Of course Master Garlic." Spice nodded before rising to his feet and heading inside. Though not quite as big or bulky as Vinegar, Spice gave off a more dangerous vibe. He had pale blue skin, white spiked up hair making him look like he'd been electrocuted and elf-like ears. Like Vinegar, he wore blue spandex, but where Vinegar had green armour up the top, he had pink, and unlike his burlier comrade, his outfit also contained a yellow cape swishing behind him.

While Vinegar was temperamental and head on in battle, Spice was calm and calculating. Putting them together in combat made them a very dangerous team and even alone, they had proven to be very valuable to Garlic.

His musings seemed to have taken longer than he'd thought as the next time he looked up, Vinegar was already setting back down with Gallant and Tech held in his hands before dropping them on the ground, Vegeta and Sakuya landing behind him a moment later. A dark smile grew on his face as the four warriors kneeled before him, his pleasure growing as he stared at the amount of power he held at his command.

"Master, how may we serve you?" Vegeta asked, raising his head. Garlic's smile turned into a smirk as he noticed the look in Vegeta's eyes. He'd seen the eyes of those possessed by the Black Water Mist many times before, but he'd never seen the urge to fight nearly as strong as it was in Vegeta's eyes.

_So this is what happens when you mix a warrior race's blood lust with the mist._ He thought absent mindedly before answering the question. "First we shall wait for Gohan to arrive and then prepare for the enemy. Hurt them as much as you want, but I want whoever comes alive and curable, understand? By the end of the day, I want them within our ranks and their DNA in the next vial of formula."

"Master Garlic, shouldn't the brat have already reached the wasteland by now?" Vinegar asked confusedly, staring out around the bleak area. "He isn't anywhere on the ground or the sky."

"Yes, he should have by now. Dr Hill would have had someone infect him before he finished talking to me." Floating into the air, Garlic glared off into the distance, silently demanding that Gohan arrive. "Blasted kid, taking so long to get here. I didn't even want to infect him, I wanted him to suffer. Why has he not arrived yet?" His glare grew even more heated as he flew inside to his monitors and still was unable to find a single trace of him. "That incompetent Hill, he better have an excuse for taking so long to infect the brat." He growled, punching away at the console and activating the communication system. However, instead of a picture of the secured computer room he always saw when he opened the channel, all he got was static.

"That imbecile! The computer must have been destroyed. The idiot couldn't even protect one simple thing…but that means…GGRRRAAAHHH!" His roar echoed all throughout the castle as realization struck home. Gohan had gotten away when the building collapsed. That was the only explanation. Which means that he would have gotten involved with the battle against Piccolo and Videl, ensuring the full health of the others.

"Which means we'll be sure to be facing the brat and his strongest allies, especially when they find out what happened to Goku." He growled, smashing his hand right through the console. Not caring that he just made his cameras useless, Garlic flew as fast as he could back out to the courtyard, not even waiting for his minions to kneel again before spitting out orders.

"I want us ready for attack at a second's notice! Gohan is free from us and I want him and his little friends captured at all costs! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

"Yes, Master Garlic!" All of his minion replied, willing and enslaved alike, before dashing off to their assigned areas.

Watching them prepare, Garlic took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. After all, this wasn't a total catastrophe. A new batch of concentrated mist was there ready and waiting, Goku was dead and he had duplicates of the procedure to create the formula. Add that the completed formula waiting for him in his throne room, Spice, Vinegar, Vegeta and the teenagers, he had more than enough power to hand a few lousy kids.

_Yes, this could work out quite nicely._ He thought, his smirk returning as he opened the door to his throne room and sat down. _I'll be able to make Gohan suffer, just like I'd originally intended. And it'll be even worse now, as I'll be taking his precious friends as my slaves right before him and he'll be powerless to stop me._ Confident in his plan, Garlic Jr. threw his head back and cackled maniacally. It wouldn't be long now before every power he wanted would be his. And with it, the resurrection of his father and the domination of the Earth would begin.

…

If looks could kill, no one would be alive around Gohan at the moment. When the hysteric crying and begging for his father to come back finally died, it was almost instantly replaced by rage worthy of Vegeta. The kind, gentle Gohan was nowhere to be found and in his place was a true Saiyan. For the first time ever, he wanted to fight, to hurt, to kill.

_I should have killed him long ago._ He growled, throwing his fist through the wall. "But no, I was a little kid who didn't believe in violence. Well this time I'm taking Videl's advice. When I'm finished, he'll be DEAD! And I'm going to enjoy doing it."

"You can't be serious." Gohan didn't even look at Gwen as she approached. In his condition, it was taking every ounce of his willpower to stop him from throwing his fist at her. "I don't believe this, first Kevin only cares about killing a guy and now you're following the same path. Gohan, killing should only be a last resort, you know that! Hell, you've repeatedly said it to the world."

"And what does being compassionate to the villains get you?" Gohan spat venomously, making Gwen and the others flinch. "All they ever do is come back. Only now they have knowledge of you and hurt you even more. To hell with compassion! When I find that good for nothing bastard, I'm ripping him apart!"

Not letting the others get a word in, Gohan flared his aura violently, the rush of energy knocking them all right off their feet before he shot straight through the window and off to the wastelands as fast as he could.

"No one's going to stop me." Gohan snarled, his rage only increasing as he detected Garlic's energy. "Garlic Jr., I'm gonna kick your scrawny ass right back to the DEAD ZONE!"

As his rage and bloodlust reached its peak, a blockade inside him snapped right opened and his aura doubled in intensity, as did his speed. With more power running through his veins than he'd ever felt before, he released an animalistic scream and reached the beginning of the wasteland within minutes.

…

"I can't believe this." Gwen ranted, roughly digging her hands into her hair. "First Kevin goes off and kills a guy with no hint of remorse and now Gohan's off doing the exact, same thing. We can't let him do it. If he kills in cold blood, he will eventually regret it. It's against his nature to hurt anyone at all."

"Considering the pain Garlic Jr.'s causing him, I doubt he'll ever care." Rai shrugged, though it was clear that he wasn't comfortable with the situation either.

"Either way, we have to help him. With this fight." He added hastily as Gwen turned a very dark, eye glowing glare on him. "According to Paradox, in our world's original time line, Gohan stopped Garlic Jr., with help from Justiman, but at the end of the battle everyone at the battle field was sucked into the Dead Zone, an inescapable void for all eternity."

"How would this Paradox know the future?" Kim asked skeptically.

"What do you mean 'original time line'?" Gwen asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Guys!" A voice shouted from behind them, making them all jump. Whipping around, they found themselves surprised to find an irritated Danny standing in the doorway, his wounds already little more than cuts and bruises. "Bulma passed by me and said that she knew where to find something to reverse this mind control stuff and if she could do that and manage to tell me why she's in such a miserable state, I'm confident in saying that we can have the common sense to use this future knowledge to help Gohan now and discuss the detail's later! You know, after we make sure there is a later for Gohan and the infected."

"Ghost boy's right." Ryo stated, placing his helmet on his head. "We need a way to catch up to him. Is it possible?"

"Very." Gwen answered, her eyes glowing again. "I just have to find his essence and…bingo! Albeo Exorior!" With that, she raised her hands and with a flash of blue light, they all disappeared.

…

Once he saw the castle, Gohan's rage doubled in intensity. His rage filled every inch of his mind, even blocking out his sensing ability, not that he cared as he aimed straight for the door, the only coherent thought being to destroy the person on the other side.

However, his blind rage left him very vulnerable and he never saw the white flash that occurred to his side just before he was struck by a lightning bolt.

"GRRAAHH!" Gohan's scream came out more like a growl as he was shocked to the ground, only to perform a one handed flip to his feet before crashing. His vicious black eyes met the malicious purple ones of Gallant as the white knight stepped out from behind the pillar, his lance and shield set for combat.

"Stay out of my way." Gohan growled coldly, raising his open palm as golden sparks burst to life in his hand. Before he could fire he spun his body around and released a wave of energy towards the rippling wind behind him, cutting straight through four, multicoloured energy foxes and revealing Sakuya on the other side of the courtyard, her staff held high.

Forcing his mind to calm a little at the sight of Justiman's friends, Gohan was able to sense the third power and threw out his hands, creating a force field just in time to block a round of green energy bullets.

"You're Tech, right?" Gohan asked as the Chinese boy stepped before the door, his infected, purple eye colour mixed with the green glow covering his irises. "You're the three Justiman wants to save."

"Heh, the pathetic fool." Sakuya sneered, taking to the air. "He should have just joined us. It's inevitable and he would have saved himself a whole lot of pain."

"Are you going to try and save us too." Tech smirked, raising his gauntlets as each of the barrels glowed.

"Yes, do try." Gallant cackled, lightning dancing around his lance. "It will make killing you much more interesting. Just like the fight with your daddy."

At that, Gohan completely snapped again. He knew that these three were good people and were being forced against their will, so he'd done everything he could not to just go and kill them. However, at the mention of his father, the flood gates burst wide open and he was once again completely consumed by rage.

"AAAAHHHHH!" Raising his fists at his sides, he threw his head back and screamed as raw power exploded from him, the blinding light destroying everything it touched before slamming into each of his opponents, flinging them all away like rag dolls.

With all three down, hurt and winded, Gohan leaped straight at the door, his fist smashing it into splinters as he flew through just as Gallant, Tech and Sakuya got back on their feet.

However, before the infected trios were able to follow him, a blue flash of light blocked their path as Gwen and the group appeared, already dropping into defensive stances.

"Oh, thank God." Justiman sighed loudly, the tension in his body visibly disappearing. "I was worried that Gohan might have killed them too if they got in his way."

"Looks like he might have tried." Rai commented worriedly, biting his lip. "But it looks like he left them for out."

"He's already upstairs." Gwen stated, her eyes glowing blue as Rai blew Gallant and his friends back with a sudden gale. "And there's three people between him and this Garlic guy."

"Probably Garlic Jr.'s most powerful servants." Kim mused, her eyes staring sharply as Sakuya got back onto her feet with a snarl, the boys following her lead a second later. "Justiman, Danny, Gwen, you guys go help Gohan. The rest of us will deal with these three and join up with you later."

"On it." Gwen nodded, running inside.

"Be careful." Danny said, following her in.

"Don't hurt them too much, ok?" Justiman added worriedly, sparing his friends one concerned look before joining the others.

"They won't get far." Gallant growled, raising his lance and aim it right at Ben. "And neither will you."

"We'll see about that." Ben smirked, activating the Omnitrix and consuming himself in the usual green light. "Swampfire!"

"Let's show these Halloween fanatics how it's done." Rai cheered, charging right at Tech.

"Fool." Tech growled, releasing another volley of energy bullets. However, much to Tech's chagrin, Rai leapt, slid, flipped and rolled around every shot. Diving over the last one, Rai rolled himself right in front of Tech and thrust an open palm right at his gut, only for Tech to snatch his wrist. "Pathetic attack. I study martial arts too."

"Then how about some WIND!" Rai retorted, smirking widely as a burst of wind exploded from his hand, crashing into Tech's gut, forcefully throwing him a good five feet back. Rai immediately followed it up with a jump that Tech sidestepped, before releasing a flurry of punches, keeping Tech on the defensive.

"Spirit strike!" Kim growled under her breath as Sakuya summoned her four fox spirits, running right at them. Coming close, she leapt into the air and spun horizontally just an inch above the first one before landing with an army roll beneath another. The result that the last two instantly changed course to attack her and crashed into their brethren, leaving all four to disappear with a flash. Smirking, Kim turned back to the aggravated shaman, pulling a lip balm container out of her pocket.

"Come on, I'm a cheerleader captain! Flexibility and grace come with the job description. Your foxes can't out maneuver me." She taunted, running in close.

"I won't be outdone by a pathetic, normal human!" Sakuya snarled, gritting her teeth irritably as she charged at Kim, her staff held across her body.

Smirking at her successful taunting, Kim turned her sprint into a series of flips, gaining even greater speed as the girls approached each other. As they met, Sakuya swung her staff right at where Kim's head was coming, only for Kim to flip over it before swinging her legs around in mid air and using all of the momentum she'd gathered to land both feet brutally into Sakuya's stomach before back flipping away, leaving Sakuya winded and coughing as she struck the ground hard, her staff clattering across the ground as her hands covered the agonising pain coming from her gut.

"Yo…you'll pay." She gasped, glaring hatefully at Kim as she landed. "Amethyst Wind!"

Gritting her teeth as purple energy petals burst from all around the shaman, flowing like rain in the wind right at her, Kim whipped out her hairdryer and fired her grappling hook at the castle wall, waiting only for it to grabbed on to protruding rock before hitting the retract button and flying up after it, narrowly avoiding the petals. Halfway up, she took the lid off of the lip balm and tossed it back the way she came.

"Lip balm?" Sakuya cried incredulous, forcing herself back to her feet. "That's the stupidest attack I've ever seen! What's it supposed to do, over- AUGH!" A simply putrid smell struck her nose at that moment and she quickly moved her hands to cover it, her eyes already starting to water and her head becoming fuzzy.

Distracted by the smell, and trying to maintain consciousness, Sakuya never noticed as Kim moved right back in, holding her breath. She quickly landed a jab to each shoulder, following it up with an elbow to the gut and an uppercut to the jaw, sending Sakuya falling and rolling away before resealing the lip balm container and taking a deep breath.

"Man, as useful as this stuff is, fighting without breathing is a pain."

On the far side of the courtyard, fire and lightning filled the air, shooting back and forth as Ben and Gallant ran circles around each other, ducking blasts as much as they were throwing them. Growing impatient with long ranged tactics, Gallant spun his body and cut straight towards Ben, blocking the oncoming flamethrower with his shield. Reaching half way, he tightened the muscles in his legs and launched himself right at Ben, his lance poised to impale. Unprepared for the change in speed, Ben was jerked to an instant stop as the lance pierced straight through his chest.

"Nice try, but you can't hurt me so easily." Ben smirked, throwing a dizzying right hook right into Gallant's face, leaving him stumbling back. The second the lance left his body, his form regenerated, removing all evidence of the event in seconds.

"I'll just have to try harder." Gallant snapped, charging in again. Unperturbed, Ben threw both of his fists at the knight-like metahuman, however, a swipe of Gallant's lance cut them both off before coming back with another slash to his head, this time lightning dancing over the metal.

"Whoa!" Ben cried, jumping back hastily as he regenerated his hands. The metal may not be able to hurt him, but the lightning sure could. Taking note of Ben's reaction, Gallant lashed out again, forcing Ben to dodge two electrified, diagonal slashes before Gallant leapt at him again, using his enhanced strength as a speed boost. Panicking, Ben leapt upward and threw a burst of fire at the ground, pushing himself into the air in order to avoid it.

It didn't help much though, for with an enraged scream, Gallant jumped right after him, his shield held high. Ben's eyes widened as from the shield electricity poured around it and back all around Gallant's form, making him look more light a column of lightning rather than a warrior. Reacting on instinct, Ben immediately threw his hands down, releasing a flamethrower and sighing in relief as the flames slowed Gallant's ascension and pushed him back down, simultaneously stretching Ben's landing point further from his opponent in the process.

"That was too- never mind!" Ben gasped; barely sidestepping Gallant's next strike before thrusting a kick into the small of Gallant's back, causing him to stumble with a grunt. He was quick to recover though and shot another stream of lightning at Ben as he turned around. Unable to escape an attack of that speed, Ben threw up his hands and unleashed a flamethrower.

The attacks found themselves in a stalemate as they collided halfway, creating a constantly growing and warping shape at the collision point.

"Interesting, so this is what it's like when two different elements clash." Ben grunted as sparks flew back in his direction, small electrical bolts doing the same on Gallant's end. "Neither power is going to give in. The center will reach us or explode before either of us wins at this rate."

Rai back flipped as Tech tried to sweep his feet from under him before coming back with a high kick, only for Tech to block it with one of his own. Wrapping his connecting leg around Rai's, Tech leapt and spun his body, launching his other foot into Rai's face and knocking them both to the ground, Rai, with a cry, on his back, Tech on his hands and toes.

"HHAAAA!" Jumping back to his feet, Tech threw up his leg for an axe kick, aiming right for Rai's gut. However, Rai swung his body so he was up and spinning on his shoulders, his leg deflecting Tech's kick before the other landed a blow of its own into Tech's hip.

Placing his hand firmly on the ground, Rai sprung himself to his feet and jumped back into the fray with a slash. Stabilising himself, Tech deflected the slash before throwing a punch only for Rai to deflect it. The two continued trading punches, continuously deflecting, blocking and sidestepping every attack coming their way. Getting frustrated, Tech threw his right arm into an upward, diagonal slash just as Rai threw his fist out, the two catching each other's assault on their forearms, struggling to push through each other's defense. Narrowing his eyes, Tech growled and took a step forward, forcing Rai's arm back. However, instead of worrying about Tech's greater strength, Rai's frown turned into a smirk, confusing the technopath. Twisting his arm, Rai wrapped his hand around Tech's wrist and dropped back towards the ground, dragging the startled Tech with him before planting both feet into his gut and launched him as hard as he could towards the other battles.

Kim and Sakuya went at each other again, Kim running, with every muscle tensing, and Sakuya flying, her knuckles turning white underneath her gloves as she clenched her staff with a death grip. Right as she moved to stab Kim with the staff's point, the redhead leapt onto the end of it and over Sakuya, twisting to land a kick between her shoulder blades on her way past.

"OOFPH!" Sakuya gasped, crashing into the ground as Kim landed gracefully on her feet not far behind her. Her rage continued to grow, getting to the point where all she saw was red as she got to her feet. With a barbarian scream, she ran straight at Kim, throwing her staff like a javelin on the way.

"Whoa!" Kim gasped, leaping to the right a single second before she would have been impaled on the spike. However, the circular bar still managed to clip her shoulder, knocking her off balance and unable to avoid Sakuya's right hook right into the same spot.

"Argh!" Forcing herself to come to a halt as she rolled, she rubbed her shoulder tenderly, pulling herself onto her knees. "Aiming for a previous injury. How underhanded of you."

"It was only injured two seconds before hand too." Sakuya smirked, grabbing her staff before flying ten feet into the air. "But that little flesh wound won't mean anything in a minute." She sneered as the point of her staff was aimed at Kim. A second later, what looked like a blue flame appeared on the point. "Fox Drive!"

Kim's eyes widened in pure terror as the flame exploded from the staff, creating a sphere around her. The second the outer layer was complete, the flames followed the ground inward. It would only take a few seconds for the entire dome to be full of fire.

Not willing to let that happen, Kim twisted the ring on her finger before aiming it right at Sakuya as it unleashed a yellow laser, striking her right in the center of her chest.

"ARGH!" Sakuya cried as she was hurled back dropping her staff in the process. As Kim had hoped, the lack of concentration ended the threat of the mystical flames, leaving Kim free to leap into the air, right at Sakuya. Grabbing the staff as it fell beside her, Kim adjusted it in her hand so the bottom side was sticking out and brought it down right on Sakuya's back.

"AARRGGHH!" Pain exploding right down her spine, Sakuya had no chance of recovering before she hit the ground, colliding with Tech a foot from it and landing in a tangled mess.

"Hmm, now who would have thought they'd both enter the same airspace at the same time?" Kim commented, unable to hide her amusement as she landed nearby.

"Too bad it wasn't three for three." Rai called over his shoulder as he passed by, heading towards the elemental collision. "Looks like Ben could use a little help."

Taking to the air, Rai swooped right around and above Ben. He was just close enough to make out the first signs of exhaustion in the plant alien's form, not that he was surprised. While lightning users tended to have a limitless supply of energy, fire elementals weren't so lucky, especially when, like a plant, their main energy source was the setting sun.

"WOO, I love a good clash of the elements." Rai cheered, raising his hands.

"Great. Now would you join in already General Airhead?" Ben gritted out through clenched teeth, barely holding onto the intensity of the attack. It was becoming steadily more difficult as the sky grew darker.

"Alright, alright, sheesh! Wind!"

"Aah! What the…?" Gallant cried, his vicious nature disappearing to be replaced with a childlike look of fear as a sudden gale blew up from below his feet and sending him into the air. With his lightning surged cut short from the surprise, it was only his reflexes raising his shield that protected him from the flames. However, he had no reflex for when Swampfire appeared amongst the flames and grabbed his leg.

"How about we change the ride's course?" He asked devilishly, spinning once before letting the wailing knight go. Screaming the whole way, Gallant sailed over to Tech and Sakuya, crashing into them just as they were about to get up.

"Thanks." Ben said raggedly, turning appreciatively to Rai. "He's tougher than he looks. It's a good thing I can regenerate."

"No problem." Rai grinned, giving him a thumbs up. "What are team mates f-"

"Look out!" Kim cried as the darkening sky lit up with a green glow. Rai and Ben had just enough time to look up and gasp before diving apart, barely avoiding a green barrage.

"Spirit Strike!"

"Oh man!" Ben cried as the four mystic fox spirits spread out, aiming for all three of them. Thankful that the green barrage was over, he leapt back the way he came, as did the others, effectively dodging the charging foxes. However, Rai failed to notice the fourth one coming his way.

"Argh!" He screamed, the resulting explosion of contact blowing him back. A second later, the other three had all changed course and struck him at the same time, sending him crashing into the castle wall.

"Raimu- ARGH!" Ben and Kim's worried cries were brought to a completely halt, as the second they landed, they were struck by a lightning bolt. The bolt sailed on towards the castle door, taking them screaming along with it as it hit, blowing the wood into splinters and leaving the heroes burned and twitching as it faded away, smoke rising from their forms.

"HA! They're not so tough." Sakuya sneered as she and her companions approached Ben and Kim, grinning with delight as their bodies still gave out a couple of random twitches.

"Their talents are individual, not group orientated." Tech said emotionlessly, turning his cold eyes towards Raimundo. "Attack as group, we have an enormous advantage over them. I doubt they know anymore than the most basic ways to unite their abilities."

"Either way, it doesn't matter now." Gallant said dismissively. "Come on. Kill the powerless girl and let's get the boys to Spice. Then we can go kick the crap out of their friends."

"N-n-not gonna ha-happen." Kim stuttered, pulling herself gingerly to her feet. She was clearly in more than a little pain, with charred skin, blood pouring down from her hair and back and biting her lip to hold back her agonised screams. She felt ready to keel over, but she couldn't do it. She had to stop these three from causing any trouble for the others. Even at her best she had no chance against those within the castle, so if she wanted to make a difference here, she had to make sure Gallant, Sakuya and Tech never made it inside. Even if it meant her death.

_If I survive, I'm gonna need a month long vacation at the hospital after this one._ She thought wryly, dropping slowly into an offensive position. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a second and forced down every sensation of pain she could. When her green pools opened again, fierce determination was all the shocked trio could see there.

"It's true." Rai groaned, leaning against the wall as he forced himself back up, glaring stubbornly as Tech's astounded gaze turned to him. "We don't train…together. Our ability to work together is very limited, developed only when we've fought together. We can't predict what the others are planning and work in sink."

"But that won't stop us from trying." Ben growled, joining Kim's side as Rai limped over to them. "We're stubborn and we're resourceful. We can learn on our feet and we will bring you three down."

"Oh yeah!" Gallant snapped, poising his lance again. "Let's see you try!"

Leaping right at them, Gallant slashed his lance at Kim before twisting it into a jab at Rai when Ben pulled Kim out of the line of fire. Rai easily avoided the lance by flying backwards, using the wind to back flip and ascend as Tech tried to unleash a flying kick to his back. Unperturbed, Tech landed on top of Gallant's lance just before he flung it horizontally. Using the extra momentum, Tech shot at Kim and Ben like he had been shot from a cannon, the Gatling barrels spreading out from his wrists as his eyes glowed green like before. However, this time they created green energy blades around his palms as he aimed to clothesline the two heroes.

Kim dropped to the ground and rolled as Ben stepped forward with a ball of fire growing in his hands. However, before he could fire, a fox spirit wrapped itself around him, restraining his arms at his side as Tech's green blade sliced his head right off.

"Jerk!" Kim shouted, launching a stunning kick right into Tech's cheek, sending him spinning to the ground before leaping back just in time to avoid Gallant's lance.

"Typhoon Boom, Wind!" Gallant's next assault was thrown off completely as the wave of wind crashed into his back, knocking the lance out of his hand and sending him airborne with a startled cry. Taking her chance, Kim flipped and leapt into the air after him; aiming a tornado kick for his gut.

"Crystal Sphere!" Before Kim could reach Gallant, Sakuya appeared out of nowhere, creating a sphere of sparkling energy around herself and Gallant. Unable to change course, Kim crashed right into it.

"ARGH!" As soon as she touched the sphere, it was like electricity had surged through her system and she was forcefully blown away. Falling quickly towards the ground, stunned and head first, it was only Rai's catch that saved her.

"Kim, are you ok?" He asked worriedly, putting some distance between them and Sakuya and the recovered Gallant.

"Well, at least your concern is well founded this time." Kim muttered amusedly before giving him a nod. "But I'll live."

"Good." Rai sighed before turning back to the approaching shaman and knight, taking note of the flames and flashes of green energy behind them. "So Mistress of resourcefulness, how do we take down the combined abilities of mystic power, lightning and energy bullets/blades?"

"I'm not sure." Kim mumbled, raising her fists. "One on one, we have the advantage of clear thinking, but they won't let us fight that way again and their teamwork is flawless. They're in perfect synch. Without any real training as a team, we have no way of comparing."

Across the courtyard, Tech was getting visibly frustrated, something that was very satisfying to Ben. Swampfire's regenerating body had been dismembered at least twenty times already, only for the body parts to reattach or grow back, and it was clearly driving the Chinese warrior crazy. So much so that he hadn't bothered paying attention to the actions of his teammates and ended up separated from them.

"Is that all you've got?" Ben smirked, throwing a punch that sent Tech stumbling and falling back. Screaming with blind fury, Tech let the blades disperse before shooting round after round of energy bullets. Ben just stood there smirking as the shot blew right through him, leaving more holes than you'd find in swish cheese. The shots continued on constantly for a good minute before slowing and finally stopping, Tech's breathing ragged. He looked thoroughly exhausted, even the dark look appearing in his eyes as Ben's body sealed all the holes he'd made couldn't cover it.

_Strange. We have been fighting pretty intensely, but he still had a lot more energy a minute ago._ Ben thought, watching curiously as Tech slowly and shakily pulled himself to his feet. _Where could all his stamina have gone? Unless…_

"I see. Those weapons on your wrists. Their power source is your own energy, isn't it?"

"Like it matters that you figured that out." Tech snarled between breaths, glaring defiantly. "I'll still…crush you."

"Hardly." Ben retorted. "Those gauntlets can be very taxing, can't they? The multiple barrages, creating and sustaining the blades, all powered by your technopathy. I don't need to bet that it's drained both your mental and physical energy dry, it's plain as day just by looking at you."

Whatever sense remained in Tech's head was long gone at that point. His purple eyes almost glowed, without the green energy they held before, as he let out a ferocious scream and ran right at Ben, his fist held back and aiming for Ben's head.

Grinning at his accomplishment, Ben threw a few seeds onto the ground before him and made them grow just as Tech stepped on them. Tech gasped as vines burst up from around his feet and wrapped around his whole body, completely immobilizing him.

"GAAA, you…let me…go." Tech growled, his voice fading at the end as Ben released a gas from his hand right into Tech's face. The savage look finally left the boy's eyes as they drooped shut, his body sagging limply a second later.

"Good, one's down." Ben sighed, turning towards the others. "But something tells me those two are going to be a lot of trouble even if we outnumber them now." Taking one last look at Tech to ensure that he was unconscious, Ben had the plants gently place him on the ground before taking off towards the others.

The fact that Gallant and Sakuya stopped simultaneously was more than enough for Kim and Rai to panic and the blood thirsty sneers on their faces wasn't helping any. Sweat poured down Kim's face as her eye caught the flicker of lightning dancing on Gallant's lance and she swallowed hard as Sakuya raised her staff. Another planned out attack was coming and Kim doubted very much that she'd survive it.

"He did it." Rai muttered suddenly, startling Kim. Letting her eye flicker to him for just a second, she almost dropped her jaw. Rai's eyes weren't taking in their opponents at all. Instead, he was openly gawking towards Ben.

"Are you nuts?" Kim whisper shouted, flicking his wrists as subtly as she could. "You'll remind these two that they left one of their trio over there. We can't handle two working together, much less all three."

"Actually, we can." Rai responded confidently, a cocky smirk growing on his face. It quickly switched to panic a second later as he finally turned his attention back to their adversaries to find a blue flame on the end of Sakuya's staff. "But we have to survive this attack first!"

"Fox Drive!" Sakuya screamed, releasing her mystic flames.

"Kim, details, now!" Rai cried as the flames surrounded them.

"The flames will make a dome and then fill the inside very quickly." Kim cried, panic stricken. Her ring wouldn't save them this time. No with Gallant ready to stop it.

Rai however, didn't seem the least bit worried; only determined as he raised his arms at his sides.

"Wudai Star Wind!" The wind exploding from his hands swirled around and above them, colliding with the flames and dragging them along with the flow, leaving Rai and a hyperventilating Kim perfectly safe inside.

"These flames aren't a problem, training against Kimiko and teaming up with Jake's given me plenty of experience." Rai stated, amazing Kim with the calmness in his tone despite the intensity of the flames he was holding back. "But I don't have an answer to what you know is coming next."

"Lightning." Kim muttered, the image of flickering electricity over Gallant's lance coming to mind. Her panic began to rise again, not that she'd ever admit it to Rai, and she may have hugged the ground and prayed the bolts would miss until her hand hit something hard on her hip. "Wha…that's it!" She exclaimed excitedly as she looked found it to be her hairdryer. Her confidence returning, she ripped it off of her hip and threw it just as a white, cackling stream blew right through the flames.

Gallant's cackle was noticeable even over the small explosion within the flames, the cruel smile on his face only matched by Sakuya's as red flashed from within the blue.

"That will have completely incinerated them." Gallant chuckled, lowering his lance. "What fun. Too bad they're gone though; I was just starting to enjoy myself."

"The boss wanted the wind boy alive. He was the only one of these three with an ability within his genes." Sakuya commented emotionlessly, though the flames didn't falter, ensuring that her prey were nothing but ash. "All well. I'm sure that there's someone else out there that can control the wind."

"Not that Garlic will ever find one." It was very fortunate for them that the surprise had Gallant moving defensively, for if he had spun and raised his shield even a second later, they both would have been barbequed.

"You again?" Gallant growled, crossing glares with Swampfire as the flames died down. "I thought that Tech would have ended you."

"Please, bullets and blades, even ones of energy, can't hurt me. Anyone who bothered using their brain would have figured that out really quickly." Ben smirked cockily, putting emphasis on brain. His smirk only grew as Gallant and Sakuya tensed, clenching their teeth and tightening their grips on their weapons. "Oh what's the matter? Did I hit a soft spot? I'm sorry, after all, you can't help that you're now brain dead can you?" He continued tauntingly.

"Oh, and by the way." He added, looking over their shoulders just as they were about to lose it. "You didn't exactly do a great job with my friends. They're far from dead."

"What do you…" Sakuya started, her venomous glare turning to her fire sphere just in time to see it pulse before it exploded, sending a wall of blue fire right at her and Gallant.

"CRYSTAL SPHERE!" She screamed, partly in fear, partly in rage as she raised her staff. Right before the flames could hit, sparkling, mystic energy exploded from her staff and surrounded her and Gallant, protecting everything within.

"Thanks for the shield, but I don't need it." Ben stated, swinging his open palm right for Sakuya's staff. His attack came to a halt as Gallant leapt in the way, thrusting his shield as hard as he could, crashing it into both Ben's hand and head. Stumbling back from the sheer force of the enraged attack, he didn't even notice as Sakuya dived into a power slide, striking what passed as his ankles with her staff.

"Whoa!" Ben cried as his back stepping motion alter to fall forward. However, despite his descent, and Gallant thrusting his dangerous, lighting covered lance right at his chest, Ben only continued to smirk and reached for the Omnitrix.

"How about we try my newest alien?" He grinned before hitting his chest. Gallant cried in shock and pain as the green flash blinded him and nearly stumbled to the ground as his strike missed its target.

"What the…HOW COULD YOU LOSE HIM! WHERE DID HE GO?" Sakuya roared, slamming the bottom of her staff into the ground.

"How should I know?" Gallant snapped back, still rubbing the white splotches out of his eyes. "I couldn't SEE!"

"I'm right here." A squeaky voice called smugly, stopping them right as they were about to attack each other. Turning back to where Swampfire had been only a moment ago, Sakuya and Gallant's eyes bugged out as they spotted the source of the voice. There, hovering where Swampfire's head had been, was what looked like a six inch, silver and green, metal creature that appeared to be a cross between an insect and a human. "The name's Nanomech!

"A bug?" Sakuya cried, her anger disappearing behind disbelief. "That's the best you could come up with?"

"You'd be surprised what this bug can do." Ben squeaked back cockily as wires shot out of his back. Effortlessly dodging Sakuya's attempts to swat him, he aimed the wires at Gallant and fired.

"ARGH!" Gallant screamed as the green lasers struck his wrists. Firing two shots, Ben completely blew apart the metal straps holding the shield on Gallants arm before changing targets and forcing Gallant to release his lance, leaving the white knight stumbling back as he tenderly rubbed his scorched wrists. "That little PEST!"

"Don't shout at it, squash it!" Sakuya growled, taking another swipe at it only to growl as she failed and raise her hand. "Amethyst Wind!"

"Oh, please." Ben grinned as the violet petals surged at him like a wave. His body glowed green for a moment as he shrunk before flying right into it, easily evading every petal.

Gallant however, wasn't so lucky. He was right in the petal storm's line of fire and with the crystal sphere still up, he had no way of escaping. A blood curdling scream echoed throughout the courtyard as the petals struck, plowing him into the sphere only for its energy zap his back like electricity.

"Thanks for the help." Ben said cheekily, reverting to his original size. "But I can do my own dirty work." He added as the wires came back out and fired. Sakuya's pained and enraged scream took over for Gallants as her smoking hand released her staff, its release and the distraction putting an end to both her shield and petals.

"About time that thing came down." Ben grinned and dropped to the ground as Sakuya turned furiously to the voice only to pale as Kim and Rai flew right at her, hands clasped and spinning like a disk. At the speed that they were coming, she had no time to move before Rai's feet ploughed into her side with the intensity of a sledge hammer, leaving her choking on her own breath as she crashed hard into the ground.

"YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING…!" Gallant roared as he got to his feet. Unperturbed, Rai and Kim turned like a boomerang and shot right at him. However, they failed to notice his condition. Like Tech had before him, he had completely snapped, and as he screamed, lightning danced erratically all over him. When Kim's feet struck his cheek and jaw, his eyes bugged out and he crashed to the ground, not rising again, however, Kim and Rai's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and their pupils shrunk as the electricity coursed through them. Stiffening, they released agonised screams as they fell to the ground.

"Rai, Kim!" Ben cried, his feet crashing into the ground as he changed back to normal, rushing to his friends. Dropping to his knees, he placed a finger on Rai's pulse and sighed in relief as he found one, a little weak, but there. It didn't hurt either as Rai groaned and slightly opened his eyes. "Oh thank God, you're ok." Ben sighed, getting a small, pained grin from Rai. However, as he turned to Kim however, Ben's blood turned cold. Her skin was paling considerably and she clearly wasn't breathing.

"Oh no, no, no." Ben cried, checking for pulse and only panicking more as he found it fading. Not wasting a second, he set her body out flat and breathed into her mouth before pushing down on her chest.

"Twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty!" He counted as he pushed before breathing into her mouth and starting again. _Come on Kim, you gotta breathe!_

His own panic overriding his pain, Rai forced himself to crawl over and placed his fingers on Kim's wrist, searching for her pulse. It took far too long to find it and he almost had a heart attack from over stressing when he finally did.

"Ben, it's not working." He croaked, ignoring the fresh bout of pain talking caused him. "Her pulse is almost…completely gone."

"I don't care!" Ben retorted stubbornly, his arms still pushing down forcefully onto Kim's chest. "I'm not going to let her die. Not a chance."

"I…I know." Rai groaned, stars forming in his eyes as his consciousness started giving out. "But…to live she'll need…defibrillation." With that, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his head dropped to the ground, unconscious.

"Defibrillation?" Ben cried exasperatedly, repeating the CPR cycle. "That's just great, where the hell am I supposed to find a…DUH!" He felt like kicking himself as the Omnitrix shined in the newly rising moonlight. The second he counted to thirty, he grabbed the watch and slapped the controls up and back down.

"Brainstorm! No time for bragging, I must work quickly." He stated, leaning over Kim's body and grabbing her shirt. "Please don't take this the wrong way my dear, but to save you…I'll leave your bra on." With that, he ripped the shirt apart. Brainstorm somehow managed to blush quite visibly as he placed his pincers around her breasts. Trying desperately not to think about where he was touching or how she was likely to kill him for this later, he released a small jolt of electricity into her system.

It had the desired effect as Kim gasped deeply as her body jerked, her eyes flying open. Ben immediately pulled his pincers away as she took another breath, and notice of their location, giving her a relieved smile, but a sheepish chuckle. He was even more relieved to have let go as the Omnitrix flashed red a few times a moment later before covering his whole form in red light and returning him to normal.

_This would have to be the…second most awkward situation of my life._ He thought, his face turning as red as a tomato as Kim noticed the tattered remains of her shirt and blushed herself as she realised what he did, her shaky hands moving to cover herself up. _Right after the pants falling down in front of a bus full of girls disaster._ He added as he took off his jacket and draped it over her torso.

"Yeah, um, sorry about…that." He mumbled nervously, having trouble putting words together as he looked at the ground, his face only darkening. "But it was the only way to save you and um…yeah."

"I'll…I'll get over it." Kim said hoarsely, her own blush deepening. "And thank you for…saving me…but how about we…"

"Never talk about this again?" Ben finished for her, getting a nod. "Deal."

"Good." Kim sighed, turning to find Rai's unconscious form beside her. "Rai? Ben is he ok?"

"He's fine, just unconscious." Ben answered soothingly, moving the wind warrior into the recovery position. "But I better check on the other three. We go them just as good as they got us."

"Then you need to…go help the others." Kim grunted, following Ben with her eyes. "They're fighting even tougher opponents. They'll…need help."

"But I can't leave you here by yourselves!" Ben cried, turning his head back to look at her as his hands checked Gallant's head and neck for a pulse and any broken bones. Finding a steady pulse and no fatal injuries, he checked over the rest of his body and put him in the recovery position before moving on to Sakuya. "Besides, the Omnitrix needs time to recharge."

"Which gives you time to ensure that we all will live before going." Kim retorted, not giving an inch. "I know it doesn't take too long to recharge. By the time you reach them…it should be ready again."

"Well yeah, but-"

"Fear not Ben Tennyson. I shall take care of them." Ben and Kim's eyes darted to the sky and tensed as a green, humanoid being in a white robe dropped down, a wooden staff in one hand and a blue and white bottle in the other. On closer inspection, they noticed that he was a Namek like Piccolo. However, this one was much older and failed to look even slightly imposing. In fact, he looked like the perfect Grandfather. Though his body still held hints of the power he once possessed, the look on his face was warm, gentle and full of pride as he looked down at Kim, Rai and Ben, as if they were his children who had become everything he hoped they would be.

However, appearances weren't enough for Ben, not when he was in a major battle zone with two of his friends seriously injured.

"And who would you be?" He asked as politely as he could, trying to hide his suspicion. It was clear that his attempt failed, but the Namekian just smiled lightly at him, nodding his head in approval.

"It is always wise to exhibit a bit of caution in your line of work, it might just save your life. But you need not worry. I am Kami, the current Guardian of the Earth." Kami informed him reassuringly, placing his staff on the ground. "Like your team, I monitor the Earth from the sky and do what I can to ensure peace and harmony prevails as much as possible. However, as you would have noticed, I'm getting on in years and can no longer fight head on battles, so I trained Gohan's father and let you young warriors take care of those situations. But that doesn't mean that I never help." He added with a grin. "Knowledge is a powerful thing, and the information on Garlic Jr. I have could be very beneficial."

"Like what?" Ben asked as Kami strolled casually around the Guardians to where Gallant and Sakuya lay. Kneeling down, he opened his bottle and placed it near their faces. Ben and Kim watched warily as a blue liquid exited the bottle and entered the two corrupted teen's mouths and panicked a second later as they started convulsing.

"What did you do to them?" Ben cried, caught between fear for the Ryo's friends and anger at Kami. However, both emotions faded not a moment later, to be replaced with astonishment, as Gallant and Sakuya settled down, their breathing evening out, as if nothing had ever happened. "What was that?"

"Sometimes cures can be rough." Kami answered simply, resealing the bottle as he stood. "This is what is called sacred water. It's basically what churches claim holy water to be, it forces evil, corruptive substances from the body, purifying it. Normally I'd just douse this place with it in the form of rain, but due to the concentrated nature of the Black Water Mist being used, the liquid has to be ingested."

"So Gallant and Sakuya are back to normal now?" Kim muttered hopefully.

"Yes, they are and so will Tech in a moment." Kami answered, heading over to the Chinese hero.

"There." Kim said softly, but firmly, turning to Ben as Tech started convulsing. "All three are back to normal, so if they do wake up they won't hurt us and Kami is here if something goes wrong. We'll be fine now, you go help the others."

"Are you sure we can trust him?" Ben asked, still suspicious. Normally he'd be more trusting, but two friends were laying there and only one blow away from death. Leaving them with a stranger didn't feel right.

"Ben…he knows your powerless right now…if he was going to…hurt us, he would have already." Kim frowned, flinching as her mood caused her to forget the state she was in and move her arms. "We'll be ok. But someone has to go and help the others and get that water to Vegeta. You're the only one here strong enough to do it."

"…Alright." Ben gave in, releasing a long sigh before turning to Kami. "Do you mind if I take that water?"

"Not at all." Kami replied happily, handing him the bottle. "Just be sure that after you give some to Vegeta, you find Garlic's stock of mist and pour the rest in. there's plenty more where that came from on the Earth's lookout."

"Right." Ben nodded, taking the bottle carefully. Giving Kim and Rai one last worrying look, He turned towards the door and headed inside, praying that he was making the right choice.

"You have a true friend there, Kim Possible." Kami commented warmly, sitting down beside her. "He will make a fine hero."

"He already is." Kim replied with a grin. "And a fine young man too."

…...

Smashing through every wall and ceiling that got in his way, Gohan soared right towards where he sensed the strongest and darkest power. More than once, he flew straight into traps of motion lasers and dark creatures, but he paid them no mind, his erratic, flaring energy blowing them all away and leaving nothing but smoking, disfigured shapes behind. It wasn't until he was halfway through the castle that another energy signal demanded his attention. To be exact, right as a fist crashed into his face with the strength of a wrecking ball.

"Gahh!" Gohan cried before his voice was drowned out by bang of the smashed, stone wall. Releasing a primal scream, Gohan obliterated every scrap of rubble off his being, glaring murderously at the person across the room. However, as a familiar cackle met his ears, shock reined some of his rage in. for there, floating smugly above him, was a corrupted ally and friend. The Prince of Saiyans, Vegeta. The room nearly quaked as the two Saiyan warriors stared each other down, the air tense and crackling from the raw, incredible power they exerted.

* * *

**AN:** if anyone's wondering how they survived the lightning unscaved in the fire ball, Kim's hairdryer is made of metal and metal attracts lightning.


	8. A Saiyan's Rage Part 2

**AN:** two updates within a week. How cool is that? The next chapter's already done and just waiting to be proof read too, so shouldn't be too long and the one after is about halfway done so yeah, I'm on a role. well later.

* * *

**A Saiyan's Rage Part 2: The Ferocious Prince**

"How nice of you to show up. I could use a good punching bag." Vegeta sneered, his purple, malicious eyes staring eagerly down at his pray. "Another Saiyan should make for a slightly interesting fight, even if it is just the little pacifist."

"Don't take me on Vegeta. My pacifism is long gone." Gohan snarled, his anger returning to its peak as his shock died down. "If we fight, you'll die. "

"What? You, a lowly son of a third class Saiyan dare talk to your prince like that?" Vegeta shouted, his smug look turning vicious. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

"Prince Gohan, heir of the Ox King, a half Saiyan Z Fighter and leader of the Valour Guardians." Gohan shouted back, standing tall. "I'm of royal blood too. And if you want to fight so bad, bring it on."

"GRRRAAAAA!" Pulling both fists back, Vegeta shot at Gohan like a bullet, His aura only intensifying as he flew. Mimicking the action, Gohan aimed right for Vegeta. A deafening boom of thunder echoed throughout the room as the two alien powerhouses met, the aftershock blowing the floor around them and nearby statues to rubble.

Vegeta, despite the mist's affects, couldn't hide the shock he felt as he matched strength with the pubescent warrior. Normally, Gohan's strength was a fair bit below his, the boy being easily pushed back and repelled. This time however, Vegeta couldn't gain an inch. And what really ticked him off was that Gohan was clearly holding back. He could see the lingering, forced restraint in Gohan's eyes and could sense even greater strength swirling within him.

Gohan, focusing solely on removing the obstacle that was his ally from his way, saw the drop in Vegeta's concentration immediately and took full advantage of it. Spinning, he pushed off of Vegeta's fist and flew below him before dishing out a brutal roundhouse kick right into Vegeta's hip. Bug eyed and gasping painfully, Vegeta was blown away and crashed into where the ceiling met the far wall.

"What the…where is this power…coming from?" Vegeta gasped angrily, smashing through the debris holding him in place. "He's never been nearly that strong! How can he…actually be so much stronger than me?"

"Do yourself a favor and stay down!" Gohan shouted, thrusting his palm out and releasing a gold beam. Vegeta's eyes widened as the beam came for him, too fast to dodge it or gather the necessary energy to counter it, and crossed his arms over his head just before he was struck. The beam took down the whole wall behind along with him, knocking him into what looked like an old ballroom under rather large pile of debris.

Watching the pile with narrowed eyes, Gohan took a few seconds to catch his breath. When Vegeta didn't rise, Gohan declared him dealt with and smashed through the ceiling and onto the next level just as fast moving footsteps smacked the ground nearby. However, after checking just enough to deem that none of them had the aura of pure evil, he ignored them completely and moved on.

"Garlic Jr., you can put as many people between us as you want. I'll still find you and when I do, I'm ripping you apart, starting with your head."

…

"Whoa!" Ryo cried, stumbling as the thunderous boom rocked the hallway. "What was that? It felt like an earthquake."

"Judging from the experience and the essences I'm sensing, Gohan is holding that immense power boost and just locked horns with a being similar to himself and almost as strong." Gwen answered just before another wall breaking smash struck their ears. "And if we don't hurry, Gohan will probably kill him."

"Then catch up when you can." Danny responded, taking to the air and flying ahead. He almost hit the ground when the third boom struck his ears, but managed to turn intangible just before hitting anything solid and continued on into the room, arriving just in time to see Gohan crash through the ceiling.

"Gohan, wait for me." He called after him, flying towards the hole. However, his calls fell on deaf ears and before he could even reach the new opening, an infuriated, animalistic roar heralded and explosive column of white and dark blue power, eradicating a large pile of rubble and a good chunk of the next room and revealing a very pissed off Saiyan.

"THAT BRAT WILL PAY FOR THAT!" Vegeta roared, stomping his foot right through the floor, like a child in the middle of a temper tantrum, as he searched wildly for Gohan, only getting madder when he found him nowhere in sight. "HE DARES TO THINK I'M FINISHED AFTER THREE LOUSY HITS? THAT IMPOTENT, LITTLE-"

"I think it's safe to say that he's powerful." Danny interrupted, regretting it a moment later as Vegeta's malicious, blood thirsty glare focused on him. "L-little, yeah, kinda I guess, but impotent, I think not."

"What would you know about power you ghost freak?" Vegeta spat, energy pouring off of him in waves and shaking the room again as Gwen and Ryo entered. "Your freakish powers are completely unnatural and absolutely pathetic compared to mine. Let me show you what true power is." With that, he fire an enormous ki beam. Danny panicked, and threw up an ecto shield and forced himself intangible. Using both powers at once wash very difficult and taxing, but Danny was desperate. He didn't need the ability to sense energy to know that even with his defenses at maximum, he wasn't likely to be conscious once this unavoidable blast hit.

"Reverso Kal!" Danny and Vegeta watched on, the former in amazement and relief, the latter in shock and outrage, as the beam appeared to melt. It wasn't completely gone before it could crash into Danny's shield, and still broke through it, however, it never reached the ghost boy. As the last of the energy melted and disappeared on its way to the ground, Danny spared a moment to send a very thankful look to the doorway. Following his gaze, Vegeta turned a very dark scowl towards Gwen as she lowered her spell book.

"You! I don't know how you did that, but YOU WILL REGRET INTERFERING WITH MY POWERS GIRL!" Vegeta roared, his face promising murder.

"We'll see." Gwen retorted evenly, hiding her nervousness as she raised her hands. "Seeing as you are in a league beyond any of us, let's even the odds a bit. Dakeliar Vortium!" Blue mist emerged from her finger tips and spread throughout the entirety of both the room she, Ryo and Danny were occupying and the ballroom Vegeta stood in, before gathering around every stone statue and entering them. Simultaneously, their eyes glowed blue and they came alive. Vegeta, Ryo and Danny watched for a moment with astoundment as ten Gargoyles, varying from Ryo's height to ten feet tall, charged at Vegeta like bulls, even growling like living creatures.

"You think a few piles of rock will stop me?" Vegeta growled as he snapped out of it, smashing his fist through the one right up in his face. He effortlessly dodge the next two attacks, coming from either side of him, and kicked the upper torso of one of them right off of its body before the fourth smashed its clasped fists into Vegeta's back, making him stumble forward and right into the fifth and sixth Gargoyles' fists, one in the cheek and one in the gut.

"You PESTS!" Vegeta screamed, his aura flaring as he released a burst of explosive energy all around him, destroying all four Gargoyles.

However, in doing so, he let his guard down, something that Ryo picked up easily. Smirking he leapt into the air, right through the dust cloud created from the disintegrating stone.

"Justice Kick!" Gasping, Vegeta had just enough time to see a foot encased in bluish purple energy through the corner of his eye before it smashed right into the small of his back.

"AARRGGHH!" Screaming in pain, Vegeta was thrown forward from the assault only to be clotheslined by the seventh Gargoyle and fall onto his injured back like a sack of potatoes. He didn't have any time to rest though as the eighth gargoyle, this one bearing wings, was diving bombing right at him, its spiky head aiming Vegeta's chest. Rolling out the way, he lashed out with his leg and shattered the flying gargoyle while simultaneously throwing an energy ball at the other, turning it into dust.

"I grow tired of these pathetic excuses for combat." Vegeta growled as he leapt to his feet, shattering the ninth gargoyle before it could even make contact.

"Ok, let's play." Danny called, releasing an ectoplasmic energy blast. Vegeta almost casually brushed it away, before launching a spin kick behind him, landing it right on Ryo's metal arm and cancelling the attack before he grabbed it tightly, smirking at the struggling teen.

"Your friends said that that helmet a number of vision functions. It's so good that you can see your opponent through smoke with enough detail to predict their movements as they shift their weight." Vegeta smirked, giving Ryo a blood curdling grin. "The arm amplifies your powers and focuses them into new forms, like a blade, making you a very dangerous adversary to some. However…" He added, licking his lips. "You'll find them useless on me!" With that, he tossed Ryo head first at the nearest pillar.

"AAAHHH- huh?" Ryo's screams came to a sudden halt as he realised that his body had, leaving him floating. Noticing the familiar, blue glow around him, he smiled appreciatively at Gwen.

"Damn brats! Just take your beating." Vegeta snarled, leaping into the air after Ryo. But before he could reached him, Danny shot up from out of nowhere, releasing a large ecto ball at point blank range right into Vegeta's chest.

"Augh!" Vegeta cried, more stunned than anything else, as the force of the blow knocked him back and higher in the air. Using the opening given, Danny pressed his attack by releasing a beam of icy energy, blowing Vegeta right to the ceiling and sealing him in a cocoon of ice. It didn't last long however, for energy sparks and ice shards exploded from him a moment later as he released another mist infected roar.

"I won't suffer the embarrassment of looking like a fool to your pathetic powers any longer!" He yelled before disappearing from sight. Not a second later, Danny's chest almost completely caved in as a blur past by him, and before he even managed to make it halfway to crashing in the fireplace, another blur appeared in front of Gwen as what felt like a pile driver struck her gut, sending her flying back with a scream and leaving a human shaped hole in the wall out to the hallway. Gwen's magic ceased working as her concentration was broken, but Ryo never made it to the ground as the blur reappeared in front on him. It stopped long enough to take on the form of a furious Vegeta just as a fist crashed into Ryo's helmet. Ryo screamed as he flew like a cannon ball, both from the pain of the blow and the metal scraping through his head as his helmet shattered under the pressure.

Not wasting any time, Vegeta disappeared again and reappeared in the air a second later, at equal distance from each of the teens.

"Now you see just how powerless the three of you really are." He sneered, staring down and admiring his work. Danny, having yet to fully recover from his previous fight, looked about ready to drop dead as he struggled to get himself on all fours and hold back the white rings trying to revert him to human form. Gwen was having a better time staying up on her knees and conscious, but her whole body was covered in deep cuts and bruises and screamed with pain. She couldn't stop coughing either, spitting up blood more than once.

Ryo was bearing better than the others, thanking whoever was listening for his enhanced tolerance as he pulled himself back to his feet.

"You are so going to pay for that." He growled, wiping some blood out of his eyes. "Do you have any idea how hard it's going to be to get that helmet replaced?"

"Is that seriously the biggest issue on your mind?" Danny groaned, giving up on rising the old fashioned way and just floated instead as he moved to help Gwen up.

"No, it's just one more reason to beat the crap out of this guy." Was Ryo's answer as he glared heatedly at the red faced Saiyan.

"How is it that you three are still even alive?" Vegeta snapped, turning his glare from one hero to the next. "That should have been more than enough force to kill the lot of you."

"If that's what you think, then you've either underestimated us or you just aren't as powerful as you think you are!" Ryo shouted, thrusting his metal fist forward. "Justice Burst!"

"BAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Ryo visibly flinched as the screamed hit his ears, but never stopped firing his barrage of purplish blue lightning orbs. Not that it did more than irritate Vegeta even more as he shot at Ryo, batting them away like tennis balls.

"Is Justiman nuts?" Danny exclaimed hoarsely, watching wide eyed as Ryo leapt out of the way of Vegeta's assault and elbowed him in the back of the head, eliciting another wild scream as Vegeta spun around and lashed out with a kick. "He's just making Vegeta madder. He's going to get killed."

"Actually…he's trying to keep Vegeta from…coming after us." Gwen said between coughs. "We're in bad shape and even you can't withstand Vegeta's punches as well as he can." Though despite her words, Gwen was still clearly worried for their new friend, watching with bated breath as she pulled herself together.

"Missed me! Missed again, haha!" Ryo teased, jumping onto Vegeta's leg as he tried to kick him and over Vegeta's head as the Saiyan responded with a punch. "Now it's my turn. Voltage Blade!" Holding his palm out flat, the lower half of Ryo's arm was encased within an energy blade as Ryo spun and lashed out at Vegeta's back.

Vegeta jerked forward violently as the blade struck home, releasing a choked gasp as blood poured from the long gash. However, rather than fall to the ground and black out from the pain, Vegeta just snapped. All tactics, orders and any remnants of common sense were completely wiped from his mind as he released a scream that would have even scared his Oozaru form.

Not expecting the change and feeling understandably scared, Ryo took a step back, but before he could do anything Vegeta was snarling right in his face. Ryo's eyes went huge as a blow strong enough launch an elephant across the room struck him hard in the gut, but before his body could fly back, Vegeta grabbed his arm, holding him firmly in place with one hand as the other disappeared in a whirlwind of motion, striking everywhere from Ryo's head down to his thighs so fast, it felt like he was getting hit in twenty places at once. Forever taking blows to the gut and chest, Ryo could barely get enough air into his system to sustain life and wasn't completely unable to scream as his entire body screamed in agony.

"RYO!" Danny yelled, ignoring all his injuries and his assured death as he took off for the fray. Fortunately, the last of Gargoyle got there before him and body slammed the uncontrollable Saiyan, giving Danny just enough time to catch Ryo's crumpling form and gain a little altitude before Vegeta flew fist first right through the statue and at the boys, Ryo and Danny only surviving due to Danny's intangibility reflex.

"You won't leave ALIVE!" Vegeta roared, whipping around with a large beam. Knowing his intangibility wouldn't save him, Danny, squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for death. However, much to Vegeta's chagrin, a blue sphere appeared around him before the beam could hit and held on stubbornly until the blast ended before disappearing without a trace.

"Yeah…I'm still here." Gwen puffed, holding the shield against such an intense attack having taken its toll on her.

"GRAAAH! YOU'VE INTERRUPTED MY MOVES FOR THE LAST TIME. DIE!" Raising both hands above his head, Vegeta gathered an enormous amount of yellow energy, its size and strength quickly growing big enough to destroy all three teens, leaving Gwen paling. She could never hope to hold back anything half as strong as what he was charging in her present state.

"We ha…have to s-s-s-stop that attack now." Ryo stuttered, groaning in pain as he forced his shaking hand to aim for Vegeta.

"But you can't do it." Danny shook his head. _But if someone doesn't, it won't just be Gwen biting the big one. That thing will destroy this room and everything in it._ Making his decision, he gulped and turned to Gwen.

"Gwen, Take Ryo and put up a shield fast." He called, tossing Ryo towards her. Flicking her hands, she created a blue glow around Ryo and gently lowered him to her side before turning a scared look back to Danny.

"What are you planning to do?" She asked, her voice trembling. She didn't like where this was heading.

"All I can." Was Danny's only soft answered, giving her one last warm look before turning a determined one right at Vegeta. Flying right at him, he took a deep breath and released a ghostly wail.

"ARGHHH!" Vegeta screamed, clasping his hands over his ears as the ecto charged sound waves crashed into him one after the other. Despite the significant gap in their strength levels, Danny's wail made quick work of pushing Vegeta into the crumbling remains of the ceiling, leaving his own energy blast unattended and descending. However, Danny wasn't about to let that happen and it was the look of strained resolve on his face that clued Gwen and Ryo into what he planned to do.

"Danny, no, DON'T!" Gwen screamed, hyperventilating.

"You'll die!" Ryo shouted, looking just as distressed.

But Danny refused to stop. If he did, they'd all be killed in the blast. _I'm already technically half dead anyway._ He thought wryly, creating an ecto ball within his palms. _What's the other half? Who knows, I may never leave the battle._ With no regrets, he tossed the ball right into the concentrated yellow energy before it could get halfway to the floor.

Gwen Threw her hands up as fast as she could as the green ball collided with the yellow blob and watched in despair through her shield as the resulting explosion covered the whole room, Danny and Vegeta included.

Gwen's shield could never hold back the amount of power the explosion held, shattering and dissipating within moments, leaving Gwen and Ryo victims to the resulting shockwave, however, it served its purpose. No extra energy of the explosion touched them and the wall behind them had already been completely blown away, leaving them to only gain a few more bruises and scrapes as they hit the rubble that was once the floor as the explosion faded away.

"Aauugghh, that was one rough landing." Ryo groaned, forcing himself to sit up with his right arm, letting the left one lay tenderly on his lap as he stared at the carnage of the last attack. To be honest, he was surprised that he and Gwen were safe where they sat. The two rooms they'd been fighting in were completely gone and every room above them had crumbled along with them. It was a miracle that the room they were in was still standing, though he would be surprised if the foundation gave away at any second. It was best if they moved a good distance from their location as soon as possible. Gwen however, had a different thought in mind.

"Danny? DANNY! Where are you?" Gwen cried, tears pouring down her cheeks as she looked from left to right. When her eyes failed her, she made them glow, searching for Danny's essence.

"Gwen, I'm so sorry." Ryo said softly, bowing his head. "I know how you feel, I really do, but if we stay here, we're likely to get crushed. The foundation here's hanging on by a thread. We need to move."

"But Danny." Gwen sobbed, starting to break down. She still couldn't find him and if she moved and he was still alive, they'd never find him before he died. But she knew Ryo was right, if she stayed, she'd probably die too and then his sacrifice would be for nothing.

"Come on, we have to go." Ryo muttered, though he still didn't move, staring at the rubble below. He wanted to kick himself for not diving into the rubble to find the ghost boy, but he'd never find him before more of the building fell on top of him and that would mean his end too. And the chances were that he was completely eradicated by the explosion.

Succumbing to her grief, Gwen's body was wracked with sobs. Deciding it was useless and that Danny, and Vegeta, were gone, she was about to let go of her concentration when at the last possible second, a flicker crossed her mind. Gasping loud enough to make Ryo panic, she focused on it and found two essences around where a pillar from the ballroom used to be. They were both dangerously weak, but they were both alive.

"I found him, I found him." She cried excitedly standing up and raising her hands before Ryo could register what she was saying. "Sinnyu Invisibus!"

Ryo watched with amazement and relief as the glowing, stone rubble flew up and flung itself away, revealing two severely battered heroes with more than one obviously broken bone, unconscious, but still alive. Laughing joyfully as he noticed Danny's breathing, Ryo got to his feet and moved to Gwen's side as she levitated Danny and Vegeta to her, the two of them checking over the unconscious pair for all identifiable injures.

"Three broken bones, severe bruising, a number of open wounds, though the blood is clotting, and a lot of charred skin. If he starts getting medical attention within ten minutes, he should live." Ryo stated, looking over Vegeta, not sure whether he was gladder that the Saiyan was unconscious or that his skull wasn't damaged and that none of his ribs had moved enough to pierce anything.

"Danny is more or less the same way." Gwen sighed, though Ryo wasn't quite sure if it was from worry or relief. Both were quite probable with their current situation.

It became impossible to figure out however, for at that moment a resounding CRACK came from the far side of the hall, a soft hiss echoing after it a second later. Both Ryo and Gwen tensed and whipped around to face the oncoming nemesis, glaring down the passageway with their hands glowing with their respective coloured energy.

As the newcomer rounded the corner, the two prepared to throw an assault only to stop at the last possible second.

"I come in peace! Take me to your leader, whatever, just don't shoot." Ben cried, throwing his free hand up in surrender. Seeing his fellow brunette, Ryo sighed in relief and let his power turn dormant before sitting back down.

"Ben! Thank goodness it's…you." Gwen said softly before her before falling to her knees. With the last of her adrenaline gone, the pain of her wounds and her exhaustion were finally catching up to her. From fighting a star stealing maniac while trying to stop Kevin from killing him, to panicking about Gohan, Rai and Roxas' physical wellbeing while fighting Piccolo and finally fighting Vegeta while stressing over Gohan's emotional state, not to mention all the teleporting in between, without any food or sleep, Gwen had reached her limit.

"Gwen!" Ben cried, moving to run to her side as she fell, only to stop when the intensity of his foot hitting the ground created a hole. "Gwen, are you alright? Talk to me Gwen." He cried, his panic evident as he forced himself to stay put.

"Looks like you guys will have to save Gohan from himself on your own." Gwen muttered tiredly, forcing her eyes to stay open. "I'd say I have just enough energy left to teleport myself to safety before…crashing." She said as she started coughing again, spitting up a little blood.

Forcing his panic down, Ben treaded slowly and lightly over the damaged floor, moving around the hole he made and edging to her side. Finally registering Danny and Vegeta along the way, he didn't need to ask about their conditions. They needed help fast and Gwen was the only one that could get it to them. The problem was so did the others and it was clearly going to be impossible for her to teleport twice to pick them up.

"Only one chance then." He muttered as he checked the Omnitrix, smiling widely as the red light turned green. "Ryo, take this and pour some of it into Vegeta's mouth. It'll free him from the Mist's control."

"Seriously?" Ryo asked, amazed and hopeful as he took the bottle and opened it up. "Where'd you get it?"

"Apparently from the current Guardian of the Earth." Ben answered as he activated the Omnitrix and turned it to Big Chill's hologram before slapping it back down and transforming. "I'll take Gwen and Danny down to the others and come back for Vegeta so Gwen can teleport all of the injured at once. Then you and I can go help Gohan and stop Garlic Jr. Unless your injuries are to serious as well?" Ben asked more than said, staring with concern. Ryo's suit had more and bigger blood stains than before and he favoring his left arm. His right leg didn't look too good either.

"Don't worry about me." Ryo shook his head as he carefully lowered the bottle to Vegeta's lips. "Enhance tolerance and enhanced healing make me pretty hard to keep down. And hurt or not, you're still going to need my help. If Garlic Jr. isn't defeated before Gohan calms down, I doubt even he'll be able to stop him with all those new powers he's collected."

"Right. I'll be back in a moment." Though he didn't like Ryo coming along in his condition, Ben couldn't argue with his logic. If they were going to stop Gohan from killing, they had to calm him down before the lethal shot was made and with it, Gohan's strength would no doubt return to normal. If they were going to stop Gohan from killing in cold blood and survive long enough to see the sun rise, as Paradox stated they must, he'd need all the help that he could get.

_Life sucks._ Was all Ben could think as he gently lifted Danny and Gwen before turning intangible and flew through the wall, back to where Kami watched over the other victims of this onslaught.


	9. A Saiyan's Rage Part 3

**A Saiyan's Rage Part 3: Clash With The Spice Boys**

"HAAAA!" Gold light exploded from the floor, decorated by wildly firing debris as Gohan rose from the newly created hole, grounding his teeth together. He could feel them. Within this chamber, at the top of the castle, were three powerful and incredibly dark beings. However, one of them was far beyond the others. That one was like a black hole, impossible to miss, dominating and all consuming. There was no doubt in Gohan's mind that one was his target.

"Garlic Jr., get your cowardly ass out here right now!" His voice echoed throughout the near empty room. All of the equipment held there was pushed against the walls. It was almost like they expected a battle take place here, though Gohan was to rage driven to notice.

"My my, what a foul mouth you developed. I doubt mummy and daddy would approve of that." Gohan growled malevolently as Garlic's taunting voice bounced off of the walls, seemingly coming from everywhere at once. "What _do_ you think that daddy would say?"

"SHUT UP!" Gohan screamed as his aura exploded. His rage was beyond even the slightest control now and his energy was no better. His pupils disappeared, his eyes turning blank white and a whirlwind struck everything in the room as his aura grew bigger and bigger. For a second, it flashed gold, lighting up the place and revealing Garlic's small, unwavering form behind his two more muscular and suddenly very nervous minions, before returning to its normal, white colouring, what looked like flickers of gold lightning remained, as did the intensity of his power. Not wasting any more time on words, Gohan aimed right for Garlic Jr. with enough strength gathering in his leg to kick Garlic's head right off.

However, Spice and Vinegar decided to test their luck and intervened, grabbing onto Gohan's arms and tossing him back to the middle of the room.

"You will not lay a finger on our master child. Not while we're here." Spice said smoothly, his voice hiding the fear he'd shown before perfectly.

"Which means that you won't touch him at all." Vinegar continued roughly, putting on a tough guy act. "There's no way that you can beat the two of us. Prepare to kiss the dirt squirt."

_I'm not so sure that they can win._ Garlic thought nervously as Gohan got back to his feet, staring at the three of them with a look that could have made even the most viscous, blood thirsty being under the affects of the Black Water Mist look innocent. _The power coming from him is more than twice as much as Vegeta had. Where the hell did it all come from? And more importantly, when will it go away? In his current state, even I don't stand a chance._

...

_You'll never have an easier job than following the carnage._ Ben thought as he and Ryo leapt through another of Gohan's holes. _Though, you do get tired of the sight pretty quickly._ He added, looking around to find that the new level looked just like the previous one: full of holes and covered in rubble.

"So, what do you do for fun when you're not bashing bad guys' heads together?" Ben asked, hoping to strike up a conversation. The two of them hadn't said a word since he'd used his V com to ensure Gwen's arrival at Capsule Corp. and he was keen to find something to think about other than the destruction and the state of his friends.

"I play card games a lot. And video games. Henry, or Tech as you know him, and I are the best gamers you'll ever find." Ryo answered, grinning proudly. "Henry's better at video games then me, but I can cream him in any card game. I'm a pro with a deck. But my favourite pastime would have to be annoying Rika and saving her every chance I get as dramatically as I can just to see her face." He added as his grin turned fond, but cheeky.

"Rika's Sakuya, right?" Ben asked, getting a nod. "Judging from what I saw of her, she's has the biggest temper of everyone on your team. Do you have a death wish or do you _like_ her?" He asked, his tone turning teasing.

"Well, yeah." Ryo nodded, his expression turning distant as they found a staircase and headed up. "Whether because of my looks or because of all the card tournaments I've won, girls always swoon over me like I'm a celebrity or something. Guys can be the same way, though they usually just want tips on how to play better and how to pick up a girl. Not to say that I haven't had guys trying to rip the clothes off of my back like the girls do before." He added hesitantly, glaring playfully as Ben chuckled. "But Rika's different. I beat her once, back before any of us had powers, in a digimon card game tournament for the title of Digimon King and she hated me afterward for it, even a year later. It was my greatest battle getting her to see me as a friend, let me tell you, but she still gives me attitude and sarcasm, like she would anyone else…who acted like me."

"What about your other team mates?" Ben asked curiously as they finished the stairs and trudged on. "How do you get along with them?"

"Henry's my best friend." Ryo started. "He was the first person outside my family that treated me like a normal person in a long time, besides Rika, but unlike her, he offered his hand in friendship. He's very down to Earth and intelligent. He's easily the calmest member on our team and he's always happy to help us through our issues. But he has a bit of a self confidence problem, so that's his benefit to knowing me. I'm really good at bringing him out of his shell.

"What about Gallant?" Ben asked.

"Gallant, or Takato, is the youngest and easily the most innocent member of our little group. He's kind of like our little brother. He was a little bit of a fanatic when we first met, but more in a flattering way than an obsessive one. He looks to us for guidance and he gives us the motivation to go on, no matter how bad things look. He provides the most laughs in our group too, most of them being intentional." Ryo added with a chuckle.

"It sounds like you guys are more of a family than a team." Ben commented, finding similarities in the way Ryo talked about his friends to the way he felt about Gwen, Max and the rest of his family.

"We are like family." Ryo stated firmly, nodding his head. "We care deeply for each other and work hard together to ensure everyone is safe and the job is done. We know how each other thinks and how to respond to how they feel and what they do almost instinctively. It allows us to predict each others' actions on the battlefield. It's the only way for any group of people, no matter how skilled or powerful the individuals may be, can ever become an effective team. Without intimate knowledge of your team mates, you're teamwork is very limited and chances are you'll interrupt each others' attacks or get caught in the crossfire."

"Making your unity more of a hindrance to you and your allies." Ben said softly, in deep thought. It made sense. When he was fighting with Gwen and Grampa Max, even Kevin, he always had at least a basic idea of what they'd do and almost every battle ended in victory with minimal injuries. However, with the Guardians, it took a lot more time to decipher each member's plans and they did often have to stop so as not to prevent another ally from getting in a shot. They'd learnt to predict each others' emotional reactions in battle, but that was as far as it got. They were starting to make combination moves too, but they were pretty basic considering each Guardian's skill level and were only ever developed and tested when facing a particularly dangerous threat, meaning that the chances that they'd fail and hurt themselves was high.

"Thanks Ryo." Ben said softly, looking off in thought.

"For what?" Ryo asked, a little confused.

"You just emphasized something I've noticed with the Guardians before. We're all powerful, in some cases easily the most powerful or skilled heroes of our generation, but other than a few moves that proved successful, we don't have much in the way of teamwork. One on one, we outclassed your friends outside, but the second they started working together, I knew if I couldn't isolate one and take him out fast, we'd have had our butts handed to us. Even then, it still didn't end as well as I hoped. The Guardians' greatest flaw is that we're a group of individuals, not a team, and everything that's happened today has just confirmed that we need to change that."

"Oh. Well, then I can take great pride in knowing that I've had a part in strengthening Earth's greatest force of good." Ryo grinned, before his face turned fierce and he stopped in place. Worried about an attack, Ben turned his eyes forward and tensed as he noticed a faint, purple mist coming through the cracks of a closed door to their left.

"That colour is the same purple that Rika's and the others' eyes turned to when they became infected." Ryo growled, taking a step back from the mist.

"Then I think we just found the source of the Black Water Mist." Ben exclaimed, activating the Omnitrix and disappearing in a flash of green light. "Echo Echo!"

"Um, why did you turn into an animated speaker?" Ryo asked, raising an eyebrow.

"This form isn't effected by any form of gas." Ben answered, holding up his hands. "Now give me the sacred water. I need to pour it into the mist's source so it can't affect anyone ever again."

"Ok…but you better not be wrong about that form of yours." Ryo replied, hesitantly giving him the bottle. "There's no way I could take you on if you get infected even if I wasn't covered in injuries."

"Don't worry. I'll be alright." He said reassuringly before running to the door, creating two clones and having one lift the other up to open the door when he noticed that the handle was too high up. Ryo ripped his bandanna off of his neck and covered his mouth and nose with it as the door opened, releasing a rather large cloud of the mist as Ben went in.

_Better hurry Ben._ He thought worriedly, taking a few steps back as the mist flowed throughout the corridor. _I doubt a piece of fabric will protect me from that stuff for long._

Entering the room, Ben couldn't help but notice how similar it was to a cliché witch's lair. Cobwebs hung in every corner, both on walls and the limited furniture and a thick layer of dust covered everything. Vials of strangely coloured liquids sat in a rack on a shelf and right in the middle of the room stood a large, black cauldron, the purple mist rising from the bubbling, purple liquid within it.

"All it needs is an old hag with an overly large wart cackling away." Ben commented before getting to work. One of his clones headed over to the shelf and released a sonic scream, destroying the racks and leaving the liquids in splotches all over the floor while the other helped the original take off the lid to the sacred water and start pouring it into the cauldron only for the bottle to slip out of their hands.

"Oops!" Ben cried as the bottle rocked forward and into the cauldron with a good splash.

"Well, it's all in there now." The clone helping stated, scratching the back of his head.

"Better hope Kami didn't need that back." The third Echo Echo added sheepishly before the three rejoined together.

Watching with bated breath, Ben sighed in relief as the mist turned a pale blue before disappearing completely. Standing up on the balls of his feet, he looked into the cauldron to find the liquid had turned the colour of ice and smirked at his work.

"I doubt that will be a problem anymore." He stated happily as he walked back out of the room to find Ryo sinking to the floor looking thoroughly relieved before turning to Ben with an annoyed look. "What?" Ben asked confusedly as he turned back to normal.

"You left the door open and almost got me infected." Ryo exclaimed, resisting the urge to bat him over the head as he stood back up and returning his bandanna to its usual place. "Like we need another dilemma like that."

"Oh, oops, sorry." Ben apologized sheepishly. Before they could say anymore, they were knocked off their feet with cries of shock as the whole castle started shaking so hard that chunks of stone broke free of the structure and almost flattened them.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Gohan found Garlic Jr." Ryo grunted, holding himself up with his metal arm

"Which means we don't have any more time to go slow and recover." Ben stated, activating the Omnitrix again. "Let's hope the Omnitrix and your enhanced healing have given us enough strength back. Jetray!" He cried as a green flash revealed a red, alien stingray. Not waiting a second, he wrapped his tail around Ryo's waist and took off through the holes Gohan had made before.

…

"Come here, you brat!" Vinegar yelled, clenching his fingers around an energy ball in his hand and thrusting it at Gohan's chest. However, Gohan would have none of it and disappeared from everyone's sight, reappearing beside Vinegar a second later, grabbed the behemoth's arm and forced his hand and energy into his own gut.

"ARGH!" Vinegar screamed as the ball exploded, sending him crashing into the ground and causing more tremors to flood the place.

Spice swooped down with an axe kick from behind while Gohan was distracted, but just as it seemed that he'd land the blow, Gohan spun around and grabbed his leg.

"Wha-"

"YAAAAHHH!"

"AAAAHHHH!" Screaming like a barbarian, Gohan dropped to the ground at the speed of a jet plane and swung Spice down like a club, using Spice's face to create another deep hole in the floor.

"Weakling." Gohan snarled, sound very much like Vegeta, before releasing his explosive aura again, the resulting wind and energy blowing both opponents off the ground and through the far walls on either side of him faster than cannon balls. His upper lip curled in disgust as the two groaned, their voices echoing throughout the ruined chamber. "Grr, just DIE ALREADY!" He screamed, charging a golden energy ball in each hand, both growing to the size of a motor bike before he released them. Neither Vinegar, nor Spice were able to move in time and disappeared within the dual explosions, their agonised screams piercing everyone in the castle's ears. Gohan just stood there and dropped his arm, completely unphased by the screams or the shaking and crumbling of the castle as he stared stoically at Garlic Jr.

"Well, well. I see you've grown stronger since we last met." Garlic exclaimed, sweat falling down his brow as he stalled. "Back in the old days, even your father and Piccolo combined weren't able to defeat me and I would have imprisoned you all in the Dead Zone for all eternity. Then you had to go and reveal that hidden power of yours and turn my greatest weapon against me, just like today." He continued, using the memory to fuel his anger and quench the fear Gohan's assault on his minions had caused.

"I should have _killed _you that day." Gohan responded, his voice so icy that even Garlic felt shivers run up his spine. "Back then, I only wanted to stop you. Knocking you into the Dead Zone was an accident. But this time…you're going to die."

"No, this time, you will die." Garlic shouted, raising his hand over his head. His palm flashed white for a second before releasing an enormous bolt of lightning, one much bigger than any Gallant had created, completely destroying the roof and revealing the night sky. However, even with his rage clouded mind, Gohan still noticed that something wasn't right. Namely, the intensifying red glow. "You see Gohan, my natural power comes from my home planet, the Makyo Star, and the closer I am to it, the greater my power becomes. It's a travelling planet and it has finally arrived at Earth. Add that to the powers I've acquired from you, Piccolo and the dress up heroes, I'm now completely invincible." He cackling, his eyes lighting up before he sneered darkly as he noticed movement around the chamber. "But it isn't just me drawing on the power of the Star. My allies do too."

"Am I supposed to be-grr!" Gohan was cut off midsentence as dived onto his hands, narrowly avoiding a punch and a kick behind him, and launched his feet into each limb, send both Vinegar and Spice spinning skyward before righting himself and turning a murderous glare on the two. "Do you two have a single brain cell between you?"

"Grrr, you're the one that's stupid." Vinegar growled, tensing his form.

"Now that we are bathed in the Makyo Star's glow, our powers have reached their peak." Spice stated, mimicking Vinegar's movements. "Now see our true power!"

Gohan watched, completely unimpressed, as the two minions released primal screams as their powers burst to life. Their bodies twitch for a moment before their muscles suddenly jumped in size, their auras doing the same. The process repeated itself two more times before they were done, leaving Vinegar and Spice looking as if they were on steroids as they let cocky, bloodthirsty smirks cross their faces. However, Gohan's expression didn't change.

"I thought that I was supposed to be overwhelmed." He said sarcastically, preparing his fists. "Neither of you are any stronger than Vegeta. This will be EASY!"

Disappearing from sight for less than a second, Gohan appeared and disappeared so fast that it looked like there were three of him as he lashed out with an unknown number of punches and kicks, Vinegar and Spice jerking at all angles helplessly with each blow.

Fed up, Spice had his hair explode out from his head like snakes, catch Gohan's ankle as he flew by. Unprepared for the sudden jerk on his leg, Gohan came to a sudden halt and quickly found the hair spinning around all four of his limbs as Spice came up behinds him, grinning cruelly as two more thick bangs wrapped themselves around Gohan's neck. Choking and spluttering as the hair strangled him, Gohan wasn't able to unleash the strength needed to break free.

"Not so tough now, are ya?" Vinegar snarled, swinging his foot into Gohan's gut, making him lose the precious little air he'd managed to take in before releasing flurry of punches all over Gohan's head and torso. "Nothing but…a ragdoll…aren't ya?" He asked between punches. "But you make a good punching bag. Maybe I'll keep you around after we've killed you for the fun of it. After all…" He grinned, pulling back and charging an energy ball as Gohan's vision darkened and his head swam, the numbness of suffocation blocking out the pain his body was in. "I can't have Goku, we completely obliterated every speck of him."

"No, you FOOL!" Garlic cried, panicking at that, Spice tensing fearfully as well as Vinegar said the one thing that would change everything. For as soon as the words managed to register in Gohan's mind, creating a picture in his head of his father, the rage and power the lack of oxygen had stripped from him returned with a vengeance. His eyes snapping wide open, he was still just long enough for Vinegar to turn pale, forgetting the energy gathering in his hand as Gohan glared venomously at him before with a choked scream, he exploded with power again. His aura flashed gold again as Spice and Vinegar were blown away by the shock wave, and as he watched, his panic growing considerably, Garlic couldn't help but notice that his eyes flashed from their onyx shade to turquoise and the tips of his hair turned blond before it all turned back to normal

_This is bad. I recognize the signs of a transformation when I see one._ Garlic thought, forcing his appearance to turn calm again. _And if he has this much power in his natural state, the last thing we need is a new, stronger form arising._

"I've had it with the two of you." Gohan shouted, flying right out of Garlic's sight again and reappearing as he landed a lightning fast tornado kick right into Vinegar's back. Screaming over the clap of thunder emitted by the blow, Vinegar abruptly changed course, flying even faster than before and crashing into Spice just as he hit the ground, leaving them in a tangled mess.

Putting an end to his own momentum, Gohan lined himself up with Spice and Vinegar and cupped his hands at his side, blue energy gathering between his hands.

"Ka Me Ha Me HA!" With a scream, he thrust his hands out and released his most powerful technique, only this time it was super charged far beyond what even Goku ever came close to doing on his own.

"CRAP, CRAP, CRAP, GET UP AND FIRE!" Spice screamed, his blood running cold as he watched the blue beam come right at him, consuming half the space between the floor and where the overly high roof had once been, and fired a yellow beam of his own. Shaking in his boots, Vinegar forced himself to his feet and joined in, putting all of his power into a beam, but even with their powers uniting, they could do no more than slow the blue promise of death down.

"Impossible!" Vinegar cried, his form trembling so much, due the shaking room, his injuries and his quickly growing fear. "It's the two of us at maximum power under the Makyo Star! There shouldn't be a single being with the power to overwhelm us other than Master Garlic, where is all his power coming from?"

However, he was never answered, for at that moment the yellow beam the Spice Boys had created was completely overridden and they were both consumed by the Kamehameha wave. Their agonised screams echoed throughout the entire mountain as their forms were disfigured and ripped apart until there was nothing left of either of them or any of the castle behind them.

"No way." Garlic muttered softly, staring wide eyed from where his minions had stood before to Gohan and back. "They're both gone. Just like that. And Gohan's power hasn't dropped even slightly. How is this possible?"

"Mull it over in hell." Garlic tensed as Gohan suddenly appeared not an inch away from him and struck him with an uppercut to his chin, send him skyward, only to appear behind Garlic a moment later with a brutal stomp kick right between Garlic's shoulder blades.

"ARGH!" Garlic yelled as he crashed through the floor and halfway through the stone of the next one below. "Rotten kid."

"I'm rotten? WHO ENSLAVED MY TEAM, HAD THEM HURT MY FRIENDS AND KILLED MY FATHER?" Gohan roared, his rage taking over so much that his aura flashed gold again. Only this time, it stayed that way and his pupils and irises completely disappeared, leaving his eyes a blank white, making his snarling, rage filled face resemble the giant ape his kind could turn into almost perfectly as gold energy burst to life in his hands.

Before Garlic could even pull himself out of the dwarf shaped hole he'd created, Gohan unleashed a devastating barrage of gold energy blasts, his hands thrusting back and forth so fast that all you could see were a gold star before him. Garlic couldn't even find the time to scream as blast after blast struck home, the newer blasts joining the explosions of the older ones, looking like one big bang until it form a dome of golden energy around him. Having enough, Gohan stopped his attack and charged up a powerful, basketball sized energy ball between his hands before tossing it right into the dome. It flew straight in and seemed to be absorbed by the dome for a second before the whole thing exploded, wiping yet another floor right out of existence.

…

"LOOK OUT!" Ryo yelled as a gold explosion burst into life above their heads. Adrenaline suddenly flooding his system, Ben pulled his body into a very sharp loop, flying back the way they came just in time to avoid wild energy and large, thick chunks of stone fall from above. Zigzagging around the debris as more of the upper floor broke off, Ben and Ryo almost missed the pale blue and black dwarf-like figure falling right in the centre of the explosive power before Gohan appeared out of nowhere, completely unaffected by the power and stone falling around him, and crushed his knee into Garlic's chest, the shrimps eyes widening with incredible pain as he gasped, spitting up blood before crashing into and through the floor below them.

"We should have just gone outside and waited." Ben muttered as debris finally stopped falling above him and the floor caved below him. "It would have been a hell of a lot safer and at this rate, they'd have met us there pretty quickly."

"No kidding." Ryo nodded as Ben dived after the two combatants. "At the rate Gohan's going, I'll be surprised if this castle is any more than a pile of ash in five minutes. Since when does he glow gold anyway?"

"Gold?" Ben asked confusedly, staring after the Saiyan he was following through every level down the castle as the powerhouse used a fist or leg to smash Garlic through every one. Sure enough, Gohan's aura had turned gold and looked much more ferocious than usual. "Wow, that's new. He's only ever glowed white."

"Must have something to do with his rage and sudden, unimaginable power level." Ryo theorized, punching a large stone away as it tried to hit his head. "Whether or not I'm right, I'm still getting the feeling that if we don't calm Gohan down soon, he may not just destroy Garlic Junior, but himself and everyone around him too."

"With that much raising power, I don't doubt it. Hang on." Ben agreed before increasing his speed, blasting any debris in his way into dust with his eye beams as he went.

Garlic released a blood curdling scream as he finally hit the bottom floor of the castle with Gohan's feet crushing his shoulders. Blood poured from every part of his body and he had obvious signs of broken bones, one of his ribs even piercing his skin. Half of his right ear was gone, as was his left foot, sending wave upon wave of agony through his body, only being amplified by the damage to his spine. In his current state, he could do nothing more than stare up at Gohan with a mixture of agony, venom, hatred and fear as the overcharged Saiyan jumped back from him, raising his meeting palms over his head.

"Time to rot in hell Garlic." Gohan spat savagely, gold energy bursting to life in his palms. "This is for my father! Masen-"

"Gohan, STOP!" Ben screamed, dropping Ryo a foot from the ground and dashing right in between Garlic Jr. and Gohan before changing back to normal, his arms held up at either side of him.

"Get out of the way Ben, I'm gonna KILL HIM!" Gohan snapped, the energy gathering in his palms only increasing. "He killed my father! I want him DEAD!"

"This how you intend to honor your father's memory? By becoming everything he hated?" Ben shouted angrily, freezing Gohan in his tracks. "I know about your father Gohan, you've told us about him before. You adore him because he was kind, compassionate, gentle and willing to give even the worst of us a chance to change. He believed all life was precious and that everyone deserved a second chance. He considered people willing to kill cold heartedly out of vengeance or for the sick pleasure to be the most despicable people of all and that's exactly what you're about to do. How is becoming a cold blooded killer honoring his memory? And what happens to his legacy? The part of him that keeps on living inside the people he touched most? If you don't carry it on, then his life and death will have been made completely pointless. And that will be your doing, not any villain's."

As Ben's speech went on, Gohan's eyes returned to normal, looking as shocked frozen as his body was and the power growing in his hands faded away. By the end of it, the golden aura had disappeared too, and the enormous power his rage had summoned disappeared to wherever it came from as Gohan collapsed on the ground with a loud sob, rivers running from his eyes.

"I…I'm so sorry daddy. I failed you, I lost myself." Gohan cried, cracking the ground with his fist. "Dad, I need you. Please come back, please?"

Ben and Ryo just watched on sadly, their hearts going out to him. They'd done it. They'd saved Gohan from his rage, but they had no way of helping him through this.

"You didn't fail him Gohan." Ryo said reassuringly, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's ok to be hurt and angry at this, it's only natural. It's part of grieving and never easy. No one can go through it alone. But you don't have to." He added with a small grin. "You have the rest of your family, the Z Fighters and the Valour Guardians. Ben and I are here to help you."

"And that's not going to change." Ben nodded, kneeling before Gohan and wrapping his arms around the distraught teen into a comforting hug. "We're your friends. Through the good and the bad. Lean on us till you can stand on your own two feet again."

Gohan had no words for that. He was incredibly grateful to both of them and wrapped his arms around Ben as he cried into his shirt. With his rage gone, he couldn't stop the tears from falling or the sobs wracking his body, so he just took the comfort his friends were offering him.

"Tha-thank you guys. F-f-for being here and f-f-for setting m-me straight."

"Hey, what are friends for?" Ben asked with a grin, getting a sad, but grateful one in return.

Behind Gohan, Ryo smiled at the two of them, content to just watch the two of them show how much they care about and appreciate each other. The Guardians were still a very new association with little united combat experience, but they all cared for each other greatly, as if they'd known each other for years. It was good to see their bonds were strong.

_Maybe you're closer to being a real team then you think Ben._ He thought proudly. However, as his ears caught the clatter of moving rocks, he looked over Ben's shoulder and his smile dropped, as did the hand he had on Gohan's shoulder. Tapping the other two to get their attention, he pointed behind Ben. All three boys tensed and jumped to their feet as they stared at Garlic Jr. His foot and ear had grown back and his bones were back in their right places. His entire body was fully heal, the only signs of Gohan's assault being the ruined robe he tossed away and the splotches of blood covering his pants and skin. And he look absolutely furious.


	10. Garlic's Ultimate Power

**Garlic's Ultimate Power And The Guardians' Titans**

"You will pay for that." Garlic Jr. seethed, clenching his fists so tightly that his nails drew blood as his piercing eyes promised death. "That was painful beyond description and I'm going to make sure you and your friends feel every little bit of it before I kill you and take their blood for my formula."

"I see you have the green guy's regenerating power. That means that all the open wounds, broken bones and punctured organs Gohan gave you are fully healed." Ryo stated, dropping into an offensive stance, his right arm held ready to strike.

"But from experience from fighting Piccolo, aches and pains will stick around and so does the loss of energy." Ben added, fiddling with the Omnitrix. "Including what you lose actually regenerating."

"Perhaps, but I'm not the only one to have my energy supply decreased, am I Gohan?" Garlic Jr. Sneered, earning a low growl from Gohan. "I have your sensing ability remember? You don't have half the power you had before. And you know that you haven't been fighting me at my maximum, even with the powers of the Makyo Star and your friends swimming in my veins."

"I've stop you before you seven dwarfs wannabe." Gohan snapped, preparing his body to move. "I'll do it again."

"Just try IT!" Garlic retorted, screaming at the end as his aura flare to life with such intensity that it almost blew them all away, Gohan's aura flaring and creating a shield the only thing that kept the others grounded. Ben and Ryo felt their jaws drop as Garlic's form grew, his muscles bulking up by more than either of his minions' had. Lightning surged throughout his aura as his skin turned a dark shade of aqua and his smooth head developed a shape similar to a helmet.

A dark chuckle left his lips as his form completed its transformation, leaving him ten feet tall and three times as muscular as Gohan. But while that was enough to leave Ben and Ryo nervous, it was what Gohan was sensing that him shaking. The powers Garlic had acquired from his captives came into full affect in this form and the mixture of them plus an enhanced version of what he'd sensed from Garlic Jr. before was enough to give him a serious headache while adrenaline pumped like crazy through his veins. Every different type of power was mixing and enhancing the others. Without that hidden power of his, even he didn't compare with the raw strength and power Garlic Jr. had now, not by a long shot.

"Can you feel it boys? The dread and paralysing fear of meeting your doom?" Garlic growled, cracking his knuckles. "The horror that there's nothing you can do to prevent it?"

"Don't get too cocky. You're not invincible yet." Ben retorted, being the first to recover, and slapped the Omnitrix controls down. "Cannonbolt!"

"He's right. We'll find a weak spot." Ryo nodded with a cocky grin.

"Let's go." Gohan stated firmly, crossing his palms above his head again. "Masenko!" Thrusting his hands down, he released a powerful beam at the same time Ben took off rolling to one side and Ryo jumped into the air to the other.

Smirking darkly at the blast coming his way, Garlic almost casually raised his hands. "Crystal Shield!" Sakuya's best form of defence sprung up instantly, blocking Gohan's attack with ease.

"How about you try a more concentrated attack?" Ryo growled, thoroughly pissed off at the sight of his crush's power as he descended right at the alien thief. "Voltage Blade!"

Garlic scowled deeply as the energy blade made contact with the shield, cutting through it after only a moment of resistance.

"Annoying pest!" He snarled, aiming his hand at Ryo just as he passed through the shield. "Try this. Lightning Ki!" Ryo's eyes widened in sheer disbelief a split second before a blast of mixed lightning and white energy struck him at point blank range, sending him careening towards the edge of the mountain, screaming the whole way.

But as he was smirking at his own accomplishment, Garlic failed to notice the high speed yellow cannon ball coming right at him and his eyes almost bulged right out of his head as he was struck from behind and knocked off his feet.

That didn't stop him from recovering quickly though and a flicker across his senses was all he needed to take control of his momentum and spin around, stopping Gohan's punch with a kick to his side, knocking the gasping Saiyan painfully into the rubble that had once been a castle.

"Now for you!" Garlic snapped as he noticed Ben coming in for another shot in the corner of his eye. His eyes glowed green as he raised his hand and within seconds, live wires burst from the debris around Ben and struck home.

"AAARRGGGHHH!" Ben screamed, losing control and unwrapping his rolling form as he was jerked back. Sneering at his work, Garlic twisted his hands, having the wires wrap around Ben's limbs before what little electricity they held still remained faded away, leaving him twitching and constrained.

"Hehehe, the time of heroes has ended. I shall destroy each and every one of you and bring forth the time of destruction and despair." Garlic cried proudly, raising his hands to the heavens. "And I'll do it using the powers of every hero I crush along the way."

"Oh no you won't!" Ryo growled, leaping right at him at the same time Gohan burst through the rubble, his fist held back to strike the second he reached Garlic.

Garlic blocked Ryo's punch with is arm before sidestepping Gohan's only to be forced to duck under the Saiyan's responding kick and drop his face right into a metal fist uppercut. Growling as he jerked up and stumbled back, he failed to protect himself as Gohan placed his open palm on his stomach and released an energy flash, blowing Garlic Jr. away.

"Grrr, Spirit Strike!" He scowled, releasing four spirit creatures towards them, in his case, snakes bearing the same colours as Sakuya's foxes.

"You think I'm gonna be beat by a few lousy reptiles?" Gohan snarled, making a mental apology to Jake as he prepared to charge the oncoming attack only for Ryo to grab him and leap off in another direction at the last second. "Huh? Ryo, what-"

"You won't be able to stop them." Ryo interrupted as they landed on a large, jagged rock, leaping again just as the green serpent was about to strike, leaving it to blow through the rock and disappear. "They're spirits given the ability to touch the living by being enhanced by the summoner's mystic energy and an elemental power. The red one's fire." He continued, kicking debris at the red one as it went to strike before leaping away again as the last two slithered through the air after them. "The green one was wind, yellow's thunder and blue is water. Energy attacks go right through all of them and you do NOT want to hit them, believe me."

"But they want to hit you." Both Ryo and Gohan stiffened as the dark voice sneered in their ears from behind them before a large palm ploughed into their backs, knocking them painfully right into the remaining snakes at the same time.

"Bwaahh!" Gohan cried as the watery an electrical spirits' power mixed, the enhancement they provided each other in addition to their individually high power levels doing a great deal of damage. Ryo was no better off as the two blew off in different directions toward the ground. If anything he was worse off, the metal on his body acting as another conductor to the thunder snake's power. His form smoking as he created a small crater in the ground, he had a hard enough time dealing with getting back in control of his aching, twitching body and nausea and couldn't find the strength to get back up.

"Well now, that was far easier than I expected." Garlic smirked, creating an energy ball, lightning dancing around its surface. "How anticlimactic after Gohan's little tirade. No matter, time to fry and die Saiyan."

"Come on, come on!" Ben cried desperately, trying to force his burnt, bound hands to the Omnitrix. "Yes!" He cheered as his claw finally managed to tap it, encasing him in a green light. "Diamondhead!" Creating sharp spikes on his crystalline body, he sliced through the constraining wires with ease and jumped to his feet, running as fast as he could towards his stunned friend.

"Lightning Ki!" Garlic cackled as the white, lightning covered beam tore through the air straight at Gohan as the boy tried pulling himself to his feet.

"Oh man!" Ben whined, try to run even faster. There was no way he'd reach Gohan in time and boy in question was still getting over the shock to his system, he'd never be able to react in time to dodge the blast. Growling under his breath, Ben did the only thing he could think of and thrust up his arms. Though the action slowed him down a little, it proved worth it as a giant crystal sprung up from the ground. A second later, it curved itself into the form of a slightly disfigured horse shoe just before the blast struck and redirected the beam safely into the sky, leaving Ben and Gohan sighing in relief.

Garlic however, was thoroughly pissed off. "Loathsome pest! Stop interfering with my revenge." Garlic spat, throwing his fist at Ben. With the distance between them so great, Ben just stood there, smirking cockily at the rage driven alien...until he noticed the fist was right up in his face.

"Wha-BAAH!" Ben cried as the fist smashed into his head, sending him into the ground hard. "What was that?"

"Piccolo's ability to stretch his limbs." Gohan gasped before a laser that was glowing green burst from a pile of rubble and fired, forcing him to head skyward only for Garlic to crash into him with his arm pushing down on Gohan's neck as they crashed into the mountain.

"Let's see your friends save you now." Garlic sneered, raising his free fist as Gohan writhed underneath him, choked, pain-filled gasps exiting his mouth.

"Ok. Thunderclap!" Ryo gasped, bringing his enlarged metal arm down right on the side of Garlic's head, the released yellow energy creating a shockwave that left the alien menace hurtling to the far side of the mountain, his scream echoing throughout the whole area.

Turning back to Gohan, Ryo hissed loudly as he let his arm fall limp, reverting back to its normal size as the brunette feel to his knees.

"Gohan...are you...alright?" He asked between deep breaths as Gohan sat up, coughing and spluttering beside him.

"I'll live. I can say that much." Gohan answered after taking in a few deep breaths and managing to calm down, rubbing his throat tenderly as he turned a worried glance to Ryo. "What about you? You don't look so good."

"That attack's intensified the wounds in my arm, legs, chest and back." Ryo whimpered, hitting the hidden release button for the metal arm shaky fingers and letting it fall to the ground. What he said was quickly backed up by the growing red blotches all over his body. "I hate to say it, but I think I'm out."

"It's amazing you got this far." Ben stated as he reached them, just as Garlic's rising and glowing form caught their attention. "Just leave this to us now."

"Let's move Ben." Gohan stated, jumping to his feet and taking off after the rapidly approaching Garlic Jr. "We can't let the bozo reach Ryo."

With a nod, Ben followed Gohan's lead, raising his arms and releasing an uncountable number of razor sharp crystal shards at Garlic Jr. Snarling, Garlic just let a burst of aura flaring wind blow them away from him as he surged at his targets, meeting Gohan's flying kick in midair with his hand, wrapping it firmly around the boy's ankle and sending him spinning down like a spinning top, crashing into Ben.

Ben was quick to respond and used Gohan's momentum to pull himself on top of Gohan, shielding the Saiyan as Garlic released another energy blast and shooting the larger two spikes on his back like torpedos, forcing Garlic away screaming as he tried to approach only for the crystal spears to cut halfway through his arms.

Grinning at Ben as the crystalline being got up on all fours, Gohan disappeared in a blur, reappearing right in front of Garlic's pained face before delivering a brutal axe kick right to Garlic's chest.

Grunting as he looked up at his foe, he hit the ground hard. Garlic opened his eyes to find a purple and bluish form dropping in on him from the sky before disappearing in a flash of green.

"Humungosaur!" Garlic went wide eyed as what looked like a dinosaur appeared in Diamondhead's place and crashed down with both feet on him, sending tremors through the earth.

"That should end th-BWAAH!" Ben was cut off as raw power exploded at his feet, knocking the behemoth skyward and crashing back down into the ground twenty feet away, a great feet considering Humungosaur's size.

"Grr, what do we have to do to stop you?" Gohan growled as Garlic shot into the air with the speed of a comet, his arms already having regenerated and all the serious damage done from Ben's attack quickly following.

"YOU DON'T! I KILL YOU!" Garlic roared maliciously before his aura exploded forth with an animalistic scream as he flew right at Ben. The rage he'd had before was nothing on what it was now, a fact seen clearly as Garlic's screaming form stopped not an inch away from Ben's chest and released a blast big enough to consume even Ben's giant form. Ben's screams of pain could be heard for miles, scaring away all forms of life as the blast ripped away at his flesh and left a large hole in the mountain where and around he was laying.

"DIE SHAPE SHIFTER!" Garlic screamed, the glint in his eyes turning insane.

"CUT IT OUT!" Garlic Jr. only just managed to cut off his attack and crash his fist into Gohan's incoming foot and flinging him back before following it up with a lightning coated kick of his own. Recovering quickly, Gohan flung his arms up at his side and created an energy shield, blocking Garlic's attack, before making it explode, flinging Garlic Jr. back and wide open as Gohan clasped his and brought them down at his gut. Back flipping through the air, Garlic hooked Gohan's hands with his feet and launched him higher into the air before righting himself and charging another white, electrical ball of energy.

"Whoa!" Gohan cried, pulling himself to an immediate stop ten feet up and turning around only to pale as he saw lightning bolts fly from the ball in Garlic's hand all around him, his senses picking up more high levels of raw power coming from the ball than he could handle. "Come on Gohan, charge fast, faster than ever before." He muttered quickly, cupping his hands at his side. "Ka...me...ha...me..."

"Give my regards to Goku brat!" Garlic Jr. shouted, thrusting his hands up and releasing his most powerful blast yet. Lightning danced around the beam so much that you'd think it was a lightning rod in the middle of the world's worst electrical storm.

"HAAA!" Gohan retorted, thrusting his hands down and releasing his own beam to meet it. A giant neon ball lit up the entire mountain peak as blue power clashed white, lightning flying randomly in all directions around the power build up. Groaning as he bit his lip to the point of drawing blood, Gohan focused every bit of strength he had into his energy wave, trying desperately to hold Garlic Jr.'s back. However, Garlic merely laughed at his efforts and increased the power behind his own blast, leaving the blue energy quickly losing ground.

"Face it Gohan, you can't win." Garlic snarled, watching with psychotic glee as his blast moved closer to the young, desperate Saiyan. "How could you possibly beat me with my home planet nearby and a variety of heroes' powers, including yours, running through my veins? You don't stand the slightest chance."

"Yes I do." Gohan grunted, his eyes staring fiercely into Garlic Jr.'s. "I have something you don't."

"Who are you kidding?" Garlic scowled, suddenly irritated. "All of your powers are in your genes, so I have them all! What could you possibly have that I don't?"

"You mean besides a brain?" Gohan asked smartly, causing the vein on Garlic's head to grow twice as big. Gohan had him so worked up that he never noticed the growing shadow behind him.

"He has friends." Realisation struck Garlic Jr. hard at that. He'd been purposely distracted. His fury at its peak, he whipped his head around, his eyes glowing with yellow energy he intended to destroy Ben with, but he wasn't quick enough to prevent Humungosaur's swinging clasped fists from slamming into his back like a sledgehammer. He did however, still manage to release the eye beams he stole from Piccolo right into Ben's abdomen.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!" Screaming in synchrony as pain wracked both of their bodies, Ben fell hard to the ground, his side bearing a third degree burn that transferred to his human form as he transformed back after hitting the ground, unconscious and Garlic soared like a slugged baseball straight up towards Gohan's beam, his own having dissipated when Ben's attack broke his concentration. His motion was altered instantly a moment later as the beam crashed into him and he plummeted towards the ground, his banshee screams the only sign that he was alive as his body became hidden within the blue light that went on to blowing up a chunk of the edge of the mountain.

"Man, by the time this fight's over, we'll be lucky if the mountain's still standing." Ryo muttered, staring on in awe as he wrapped his bandanna around one of his deeper gashes on his arm. "I actually won a fight with Gohan? He must have been holding back a lot."

Gasping heavily, Gohan let himself drop to the ground and collapse onto his butt. He knew Garlic Jr. wasn't defeated, not by a long shot, but he had been blown far down the mountain so he had a few moments to catch his breath.

Noticing Ryo stumbling towards an unmoving Ben, he focused just enough to sense that Ben was still alive before sighing in relief and letting all of his attention go back to monitoring Garlic, leaving Ben in Ryo's hands.

_We're in so much trouble._ Gohan groaned, taking another deep breath. _Garlic's lost a lot of power since the beginning of the fight, but he still about as strong as I am at my best and I am far from my best. Next time we go at it, he'll defeat me. What am I gonna do?_

His heart almost stopped as he felt Garlic flying right back up the mountain, the wild flares of his power alerting Gohan to his beyond reason mood. Taking a deep breath, Gohan got back onto his feet and was about move into a defensive position suddenly Garlic Jr.'s speed jumped. Before he could even blink, Garlic had not only returned to the top of the mountain, but was already in Gohan's face and using him like a punching bag, his fists moving so fast that even Gohan couldn't see them.

"Stupid kid, hurting me like that, I aughta rip your arms off, you little bastard." Garlic screeched as Gohan released an endless scream, never stopping his punches. Coating his fist in electricity, he put all his force into a vertical swing.

"AAWAAARRRRGGGHHH!" Gohan's body spasmed as he was blown to the other side of the mountain peak at a greater speed than a cannon ball and crashed into one of the last few standing pieces of the old castle, his body breaking halfway through it and getting stuck, slumping brokenly in the Gohan shaped indent. That wasn't enough for Garlic Jr. though and he was in front of Gohan in seconds. From his place beside Ben, Ryo froze in pure terror as he watched a blue fire appear on Garlic's outstretched palm.

"No! Gohan get out of there." Ryo muttered fearfully under his breath, not daring to speak loudly and alert Garlic to the unconscious and heavily injured boy beside him. "You won't survive."

"I'm going to enjoy watching the ash fly away in the wind." Garlic exclaimed as the flame grew bigger. "Fox Drive!"

"AAAAAARRRGGGGHHH!" Ryo's flew to his ears as Gohan's scream almost made them bleed, his eyes already shut tight as a tear for his new friend fell down his face. Garlic however, thoroughly enjoyed it, waiting excitedly for when the blackened remains would be before his eyes.

Unfortunately for him, he'd have to wait longer than he expected. With the discipline his mother and Piccolo had taught him, Gohan forced himself to ignore the sphere of flames licking his skin and burning away his clothes and gathered all the energy he could before releasing it in the form of his aura and using it to shield him from the flames while simultaneously putting out the flames burning on his being. With the flames dealt with and a little extra concentration, he forced his hand out before him and focused on his power for one last assault.

_I hope my first original move is as effective as Dad's and Piccolo's are._ He thought as his aura started swirling around him, as if his energy was building up momentum. "Aura Burst!" Just as he managed to force the words from his mouth, his aura, while forever surrounding him, swirled around his outstretched hand and burst forth like a beam, tearing right through the flames and slamming into a stunned Garlic Jr's entire body with the force of his race car hitting a brick wall. There was a booming clap of thunder upon impact and Garlic was blown high into the air, yelling profanities the whole way.

With Garlic otherwise occupied, the mystic flames dissipated just as Gohan's aura faded from existence, revealing the boy, burned, agonised, exhausted and missing his shirt, wrist bands, shoes and left pants leg as he fell limply, facedown to the ground, gasping hoarsely as he made contact, but not moving an inch.

"GOHAN!" Ryo cried, panic stricken as his eyes dashed back and forth between the two Guardians, not sure what to do.

_Garlic's still up there and he's stopped moving._ He thought, staring up at the dot in the sky as he bit his lip. _I'm the only one still able to move, I have to protect them! But I'm so wounded already, what can I do?_ Looking back down at Gohan and Ben, one thought did come to mind: he couldn't protect them both if they were scattered around the battlefield.

"I have to get them together." He muttered, grabbing Ben by the legs and slowly pulling him towards Gohan. "Sorry Ben, but I can't carry you right now." He said apologetically as Ben's body jerked from hitting a rock, Ryo's own body visibly flinching in pain as his wounds, particularly the ones on his arms, opened wider from the strain as he walked.

"Well now, who would have imagined that." Garlic commented, more intrigued than anything else as he stared down at the trio that had once been a dangerous force. His anger had dissipated. Seeing Gohan in such a state was very satisfying and the attack he'd used to repel Garlic Jr. and his flames was very interesting. "To turn the harmless energy of an aura into a weapon, not even using the wind it can create to at all! Have to give the brat credit, that was simply ingenious and very useful, creating a defensive shield and a powerful blast. I'll have to figure out how he did it and duplicate it. But first," He added, a feral grin growing on his face. "Now is the opportune time to kill him and his friends. But I better do it up close. Don't wanna waste the powers Justiman and Ben Ten may be able to give me by incinerating them."

"Here he comes." Ryo muttered, watching tensely as Garlic dropped to the ground twenty feet away. "Hm, funny." Ryo chuckled wryly as a thought crossed his mind. "This is usually when I make a dramatic entrance and save the day, much to Rika's irritation. Apparently I joined the fight too early."

"You would have been wise not to fight at all." Garlic interrupted, walking slowly towards Ryo, the boy forcing his war torn body to his fists. "Had you not attacked me and hid yourself, you may of never been found. That's the flaw of being a hero. Helping and protecting others will only serve to hurt you in the end. Now, do yourself a favour and get out of the way so I can kill Gohan. Then maybe I'll let you live. Under the affects of the Black Water Mist of course."

"You mean from the cauldron Ben contaminated with sacred water?" Ryo snapped, gritting his teeth as he suppressed his pain, glaring fiercely. "Not a chance. I'm proud to be a hero and I will never let you hurt Gohan, Ben or anyone else. That's the difference between you and me. You fight only for yourself, while I willingly risk my life for others. And for your information, a hero's compassion and desire to protect others are not weaknesses, they're what gives us the power to take people like you down!"

Snorting, Garlic opened his mouth to retort while his arm moved to slice through Ryo, when suddenly the boy's entire body began to glow with his purplish blue energy, his eyes in particular blazing like fire. Screaming as his muscles tensed, Ryo leapt right at Garlic Jr. and planted his fist right in the freak's gut, knocking the air out of him before throwing his other fist up into Garlic's jaw with a leap, throwing him into the air.

Garlic Jr. was so astounded by the sudden attack that he barely managed to recover in time to stop himself from being clotheslined before falling into defence, forced to block punch after punch from all different directions.

_There's something different about this one._ Garlic mused as he blocked a vertical chop, only for Ryo's other fist to come from under it and crash in his chest, causing Garlic back a step with a grunt. _With the wounds he's accumulated and the blood loss, he shouldn't be able to move, yet he's fighting me with nearly as much strength as before! And his body is only getting worse._ Garlic noted, watching as one gash on Ryo's right arm showing through a rip in his clothes suddenly grew wider, spewing out even more blood than before as the boy threw another punch, yet the impact on Garlic's arm was almost as forceful as the last. _He has the kind of body and stubbornness to withstand even the greatest amount of pain. It's a good thing I don't want any information from him because he'd die long before I could torture it out of him. _

_Gotta finish this now._ Ryo thought, spinning into a backhand fist that landed with a satisfying bang into Garlic's cheek, leaving him dazed as Ryo jumped into the air. He doubted his next attack would take Garlic out, but there was nothing else he could do. With every punch, jump and twist, his muscles screamed more and more, his open wounds grew wider and the edges of his vision started blurring. And with that, he was losing strength in his attacks. _Either this attack ends it, or we all die. I sure hope this works._

"Justice Kick!" All of the energy surrounding his body went right to his foot as he aimed it straight at Garlic Jr., dropping from the sky with ever increasing speed.

Refocusing on his opponent, Garlic tensed as stiff as a board as he watched the purplish blue power drop right over him. Back flipping a good few feet away, he only missed Ryo's foot by inches as the brunette crashed into the ground, creating a large dust cloud that blocked him from view. As it cleared, Garlic couldn't help but snort as he found Ryo chest deep in the ground, his arms laying just outside the hole alongside his head.

"Simply amazing. You wielded far more strength than anyone in your condition should ever be capable of." Garlic complimented, gathering a ball of energy as he walked forward. "Clearly your determination and resolve are almost endless, only ceasing when your body can't so much as twitch. It's too bad I have to kill you. Had you not ruined my mist, you would have made an amazing minion."

Struggling just to open one eye and see through the blood running down from his forehead, could do nothing more than stare defiantly up at Garlic Jr. as he stopped before him, raising his hand.

"Good bye kid." With that, Garlic dropped his hand. Sighing in defeat, Ryo closed his eye and just waited for the end to come.

_Sorry guys. I wasn't enough._

"No!" Gohan grunted, glaring through a half lidded eye as Garlic moved to end Ryo. He wouldn't allow it, not if he could help it. He'd already led Videl into infection, lost his dad and dragged his battle tired friends after him to this place. He wasn't going to let another friend die no matter how much pain it caused him. With his mind set, he forced his shaking arm up, ignoring the feeling of fire tearing through it as he did, and released the strongest blast of energy his arm could handle, screaming as the pain in his arm multiplied when he did.

Not expecting Gohan to even still be conscious, Garlic was shocked still just before letting go of his attack and turned to the Saiyan just in time for the blast to connect with his right eye. Roaring with pain, Garlic tossed the ki ball into the air as he stumble back, his hand clasped firmly over the injured eye, and didn't notice that it fell back down until the ball struck his shoulder, knocking him off his feet.

"YOU BASTARD!" Garlic screeched, writhing in pain. The eye wasn't destroyed, it was completely intact, but it was seared. Piccolo's regenerating abilities were useless in that case, only able to restore what's been ripped off or open. "THAT WAS MY EYE!"

"R-really?" Gohan muttered hoarsely, yet as cockily as he could, not even looking at Garlic as the pain he was in made even shallow breaths agonising. "T-t-then my ai-aim is off. I was aiming f-f-for your groin. I-if you even have s-something down the-re."

"YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING BASTARD! EVEN AN INCH AWAY FROM DEATH, YOU'RE A THORN IN MY SIDE!" Garlic's scream echoed throughout the entire wasteland as he jumped back onto his feet, glaring venomously at Gohan. Despite his injuries, Gohan did the one thing he knew would tick Garlic off even more than he was now, preventing him from even thinking about Ryo: he smirked.

"B-ut then I a-am good for something. A-aren't I?"

"You...YOU FILTHY MONKEY!" Garlic screeched, seeing red and he sprinted right at Gohan, his fist poised to smash Gohan's head in.

"W-well, this is the...end." Gohan sighed, waiting for the inevitable. "I j-j-just hope a miracle c-comes and...saves the o-others."

"One miracle-"

"Coming up!" Gohan gasped as two white blurs past him, one on either side, before converging between him and Garlic and releasing a flash of light so great that he had to squeeze his eyes shut tight.

Garlic was even worse off. He wasn't even able to process what was going on before wave after wave of white light crashed into him, sending searing pain only comparable to super powered Gohan's blasts through his entire body as he was blown away.

_I don't believe this!_ He screamed in his head while his mouth just screamed. _Just as I'm ready to kill him, someone jumps in and interferes AGAIN! And who's left on Earth with this kind of power?_

Groaning as the light faded, Gohan forced his eye open to find two blurry figures standing before him, back to back, with an outstretched hand touching the other's and pointing their open palms out at Garlic. He couldn't make out any details of the two other than one was fully clad in white while the other had a mix of white and black, but the power they'd released was more than enough to calm and reassure Gohan. The purity and raw power within that attack was something he'd only seen once before, something that only one with a heart of pure light could ever hope to create.

"Roxas...Namine. Impeccable timing." Gohan managed to struggle out, laughing softly despite the pain it caused him. "But...how are..."

"The Galvins healed me pretty quickly and Paradox dropped me off next to Namine." Roxas answered with a grin before Gohan could finish the question while Namine leaned down at his side.

"You've got yourself in a bad way now haven't you?" She commented, placing her hands over Gohan's chest, making him sigh blissfully as light magic flooded from her hands throughout his body, healing his wounds. "Roxas, this will take a few minutes. He's in a really bad way. Do you think you'll be able to hold off Garlic until then?"

"Not on my own." He responded, shivering as he sensed the darkness of Garlic's rising being, a chill as cold as the nothingness of space running down his spine as he turned to Ryo. "But with a little help, it shouldn't be a problem. I'll take care of the new guy."

Sparing him a quick glance, Namine gave Roxas a quick nod before turning her attention back to Gohan. Gohan had the sudden urge to shrink into himself as she looked right into his eyes, noticing a very disapproving look held within hers.

"Gohan, you should have waited until everyone was ready for this, or at least until you could get fresh fighters like me and Jake to help you." She scolded. Unable to handle the disappointment on her face, Gohan couldn't help looking shamefully at the ground. "I've seen the others and their energy levels are even worse than their physical injuries. You had time to regroup and let them regain their strength; you should have let them take it, not force everyone to come here after you at maybe half strength. You're smarter than that."

"I know." He muttered sadly, kicking himself. He knew he'd messed up, but hearing it come from Namine of all people, seeing the disappointment in her eyes, it suddenly felt like there was a knife poking at his heart. "I couldn't help it, I lost myself. As soon as I heard about my dad..."

Gohan just couldn't continue after that, struggling to hold back a fresh bout of tears. Namine didn't say anything in response, but her eyes did soften at the state Gohan was in. The young telepath felt like kicking herself for forcing his pain back to the forefront, but settled for hesitantly placing one of her hands on his face comfortingly as she continued healing him.

Reaching Ryo, Roxas had to admit that he was impressed. The guy more opened gashes then he had unharmed skin, but he'd still continued to fight and make the crater he still 'stood' in. The guy had more determination than anyone he'd ever met, except maybe Ter-

_Huh? Where'd that come from? _He froze as the unknown image crossed his mind, depicting a tall young man with brown hair and blue eyes clad in strange black, reddish and gold armour, with what looked like a large Keyblade in hand. _Who is this Terra?_ He frowned, trying and failing to find the answer before the black hole that was Garlic Jr.'s aura crashed into him again as it fluxuated, bringing him back to reality. Shaking his head, he knelt down and placed a hand on Ryo's shoulder, causing the boy stiffen and flinch in the resulting pain.

"Hey, Justiman right? Are you still conscious?" Roxas asked softly.

"Yeah. Ju...st barely." Ryo wheezed, forcing his good eye to look up at the blond.

"Good. Now, I'm gonna pull you out of there and see what I can do about your injuries before Garlic returns." Roxas told him, positioning his hands under Ryo's armpits. "Ready?"

"Just do it." Was Ryo's answer, squeezing his eyes shut and biting his lip. Taking a deep breath, Roxas raised the injured brunette as slowly and carefully as he could, so as not to hurt him anymore than he already was, but almost dropped him when he noticed what the earth had been hiding. His eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he watched blood dripping off of the boy's body, having already dyed almost all of his spandex red and he clearly had a good few fractured bones along with everything else. It was a wonder how this kid was even alive.

"This is going to take a lot more than I thought." He muttered as he gently laid Ryo down in the recovery position, trying to make it as easy for him to breath as possible. Not wasting a second, he stood up and summoned Oathkeeper to his hand, praying that the magic amplifying nature of the white Keyblade would be a sufficient power boost to his spell to save the young hero as he pointed the tip right at Justiman.

"Curaga!" All Ryo could see was white light, even behind his eyelids as the healing spell burst from the blade. However, that was the only unpleasant about it. Ryo let out a loud sigh as half the pain he was feeling suddenly disappeared, along with the numbness that had been developing in his limbs. Wiping the blood off of his face, he opened his eyes and watched, astounded, as the deep gashes halved in size, a few of them disappearing completely with the smaller ones. His right arm, which was right in front of the end of Oathkeeper, was healed completely, even what he knew was a torn muscle felt as good as new.

"WHOA!" Roxas cried, completely thrown off by the affects of his spell. In addition to everything that Ryo had noticed, Roxas could even see Ryo's skin, which had paled considerably due to the blood loss, regaining some of his colour back. That meant that even his blood cells had sped up their reproduction cycle, generating more blood for his system. "OK, there is no way, even with Oathkeeper and such an advanced healing spell as Curaga, that you could have healed this much with my level of magic! What's going on? The affects are even lingering!"

"Maybe your magic crossed with my enhanced healing?" Ryo suggested, pulling himself gingerly into a sitting position.

"You have enhanced healing?" Roxas asked, getting a nod. "Combined with enhanced tolerance, that would explain how you were still alive, though if I hadn't helped, you'd be dead in minutes." He muttered, rubbing his chin as he frowned in thought. "And yeah, my amplified spell must just amplified your healing ability into overdrive in turn, resulting in my spell having a prolonged affect on you. But I don't know how close to full health it'll bring you. Do you think you have enough strength to fight?"

"Not nearly as well as usual, but I can provide a little back up and covering fire." Ryo nodded, giving Roxas a wink and a thumbs up. "If I get my metal arm back on that is."

"Not a...problem." Roxas said before turning a glare off into the distance. Garlic Jr. had almost returned to their destination, with an aura that strong and full of darkness, Roxas needed no aura spell to know that. Scanning the area quickly, his eyes narrowed as they found the metal arm, there was no way he could get to it and return it to Ryo before Garlic arrived, even if he used a portal and if Ryo was sent there, the portal would attract Garlic's attention to him, something that the brunette definitely couldn't handle right now.

"Stay down." He ordered, pushing a startled Ryo back onto his back before stand protectively in front of him as Garlic Jr. came back into view, screaming bloody murder. "Look unconscious and wait for me to get that toy of yours back to you. We can't let him know you're in the game yet." Realisation crossing his face, Ryo lidded his eyes until they were only open a crack.

"So, the Nobodies have arrived." Garlic snarled as he scanned the area, briefly looking over Roxas' tensed and suddenly infuriated form before his eyes trailed over to Namine, scowling deeply as he noticed what she was doing. "Oh no you don't, girl!" He snapped, gathering another ball of electrified Ki. "No half being is going to ruin my work! Lightning Ki!"

"Don't you DARE call her that!" Roxas roared, flinging his hand out towards Namine. A light portal appeared before her a second later and swallowed Garlic's beam. Roxas' hands switched to direction to Garlic before his foe could even respond, both already being surrounded by light orbs. "Event Horizon!"

Garlic could barely look at the orbs as at least two dozen flew his way, their light and the purity of them hitting his eyes and senses causing more than a little pain on their own and opted to throw a large blast of his own, destroying every single one.

Using the resulting smoke as a cover, Roxas leapt into the air, his Keyblades flashing into existence, and dived right at Garlic Jr., the blades glowing white along the way.

"Crisscross!" Spinning the Keyblades, he swung them in a cross just as he landed before Garlic, striking his chest with the Keyblades .

"ARGH!" Garlic screeched stumbling back. Growling, he ignored the pain in his torn flesh, but before he could recover, the light magic burst from the blades and swirled in circles around Roxas, striking Garlic all over and blowing him up and down into the ground with a scream.

"Now's my chance." Roxas muttered, resisting the urge to jump on and hack Garlic apart for his comments and sprinting past him. Reaching the metal arm, he tossed it into the air and slammed the side of Oblivion into it with a spin, sending it sailing straight to Ryo.

Grimacing at how Roxas sent it to him, Ryo jumped onto his feet and caught the arm with ease in his left hand and without stopping its motion, slid it over his right, grinning as he set it in place.

"You little brat! How can half a being be so much trouble?" Garlic Jr. growled, his hand starting to glow a light purple.

"Enough with the half a person crap. I'm ME! Nobody else!" Roxas shouted, dashing right for Garlic in a fit of rage with his Keyblades held out before him, surprising everyone as his form started to glow and leave a white trail as he ran far faster than even an Olympic athlete could dream of. "Shockwave Thrust!"

Moving on instinct, Garlic Jr. leapt into the air, avoiding the attack, but cried out in surprise as the shockwave created by the magic surrounding him crashed into him, knocking him off balance.

Seeing the opening, Ryo leapt into the air after him, spinning his body as he got close, and enhanced the size of his metal arm.

"Thunderclap!" He cried, finishing his spin by slamming his palm into Garlic Junior's back. Garlic's eyes bugged out of their sockets as the energy gathered in the arm exploded outward into him, the shockwave sending him crashing into the ground with a choked gasp.

"It's amazing that he keeps going. How is it that he hasn't run out of energy yet?" Ryo asked as Garlic pulled himself back to his feet, snarling under his breath. "Between Gohan's original attack while being ultra powerful, the blows all three of us made before and what you, Namine and I have done in the last few minutes, he should be running on empty by now."

"That's an easy one." Garlic answered as Roxas returned to Ryo's side, both of them preparing their weapons for battle again. "The combined enhanced tolerance from your friends makes it that only your best attacks hurt me, so there's less to heal from and slow me down. The new kinds of powers I acquired came with a very impressive power boost and thanks to Gohan's DNA, every time Piccolo's regenerating power heals me, my power level increases. Thanks to your actions, I've grown stronger as the fight's gone on. You just haven't noticed because I've expended energy during the fight too." He laughed darkly as Roxas and Ryo scowled, raising his still glowing hands. "And speaking of new powers, let's try another one out. Amethyst Wind!"

"Light!" Roxas shouted, creating a wall of thirteen light beams between him and Ryo and the attacking energy petals, bringing them so close together that they looked like a single wall of light. It protected them fine, provided that they remained with their shoulders pressing against each other, but the petals were coming in full force from beside and above the wall, making it impossible for them to move.

"Can you make a portal beneath us and get us out of here?" Ryo asked, pushing further into Roxas and repositioning them so they were back to back as the petals started moving around the sides of the beams.

"Not without dropping our shield first and then we'd be hit before I could do anything." Roxas sighed, feeling Ryo sag with disappointment behind him.

"Great, so we're stuck until the petals stop. By which point, Garlic will probably have a lightning bolt ready for us."

Looking up as the last of Gohan's injuries went from potentially fatal to just a little painful, Namine gasped fearfully at the sight. Ending her healing magic, she brought her hand to her left wrist where a specially designed holster held one of her crystal daggers and pulled it out before tossing it with precise aim, right into Garlic's shoulder.

"ARGH!" Garlic screamed, clasping his shoulder and pulling out the dagger, ending the petal barrage in the process.

"WHOA!" Gohan cried, completely gobsmacked as he stared up at Namine. "Since when can you do that?" He asked, smiling widely.

"Roxas has been helping me train since we were freed from the Organisation." Namine replied, blushing at the impressed look Gohan was giving her. "I'm nowhere near him, in close range or magical talent, but I've gotten far enough so that I can at least protect _myself _properly on the battlefield now."

"Well, if you still have the strength after healing Ben, you'll have to show me what you've got." Gohan grinned, unable to keep a warm, fuzzy feeling from growing inside him as she smiled shyly at his words, despite the situation. "But for now, I better keep the jerk busy." Forcing himself to look away from the blond beauty beside him, Gohan took off towards the fight, smiling to himself, both because they actually had a really good chance with the blonds involved if what he was sensing of everyone's energy levels was accurate and because he seemed to actually be getting somewhere with his crush. Hey, he was teenage boy, like he could help it!

Seeing the dagger fly true and hearing the scream, Roxas grinned proudly at Namine's improved aim and strength as he threw up his hands, turning the tower like beams from a shield to a weapon by sending them right at Garlic. The monstrous being had only just pulled the dagger from his shoulder when the beams struck home, sending him hurtling back with a scream once again. Ryo wasn't about to let it end there though for he jumped skyward, aiming his metal arm for Garlic Jr.

"Justice Burst!" The barrage of purplish blue electrical blasts struck home, jerking Garlic's body repeatedly as they hit towards the ground until he crashed into it.

"GRRAAHHH! You lot just won't die!" Garlic screamed his infuriated eyes glowing green as two large, heavily dented lasers burst from the rubble, one aimed at Roxas and the other at Ryo. "How many times do I have to rip you apart before you stay that way."

"As much as I hate to say it, one more time will probably do it." Ryo muttered, glaring angrily as he watched the laser Garlic controlled through his best friend's powers. "It's only righteous anger and adrenaline that's keeping me going now and I don't think I can block or survive that cannon's blast."

"Then it just won't happen again."

"Ha ha!" Roxas cheered at the familiar voice as two gold energy blasts crashed into and destroyed the cannons before they could fire. "Looks like Namine patched you up good as new."

Gohan just grinned brightly back before turning a cocky version of it to a stomping mad Garlic Jr. With his clothes mostly gone, it was clear to see that Gohan didn't have a single scratch or bruise on him and his senses could feel the increase in power since a few minutes ago, thanks to the same genes that had helped him retain power through the battle.

"What does a villain have to do to make you brats STAY DOWN?" Garlic screamed exasperatedly, practically jumping up and down on the spot.

"If you're done acting like a big cry baby who can't find his bottle, let's finish this." Gohan exclaimed before disappearing in a blur before reappearing in front of Garlic with a kick aimed to his head. Garlic managed to block it, but with all of his attention on the one he wanted dead the most, he never noticed the glowing white streak shooting his way until the Keyblades had struck his stomach, knocking him into a large boulder just as another person dropped from the sky.

"Voltage Blade!" The energy blade coming to life over his hand dropped down and slashed Garlic Jr. from his left shoulder to his right hip, leaving him shrieking in pain as the blade cut through him and burned the surrounding cells, making regeneration a much harder feet.

"Get AWAY!" Garlic screamed, lightning flying wildly from his body and forcing the boys to back off. Standing stably on his own feet as the lightning turned the rock behind him into dust, he thrust his hands at them and unleashed Piccolo's limb stretching ability again, grabbing Gohan and Roxas.

"ARGH!" Both the blond and the Saiyan screamed as they were clasped in bruising grips that carried the lightning to their bodies, leaving them jerking wildly, both from the jolts and trying to escape.

"Oh no!" Ryo cried, clenching his fists to hold back the helplessness and panic he was feeling. In Garlic's current state, if Ryo attacked physically, he'd just join the others in getting fried. "And my bursts are electrical in nature, so using them now may only make things worse." He mutter, looking around wildly. "There's got to be some way I-"

"Magical ball!" His eyes widening, Ryo turned his head just in time to see Namine fire a ball of white magic with a weak, light purple outline about twice the size of a basket ball from the combined points of her daggers, her arms thrusting upward as the light magic was released, flying on a direct course to Garlic Jr.

"AARRGGHH!" The lightning dancing over his body failed to protect him as the light ball struck. Ryo found himself completely astounded as Garlic was blown right off his feet, letting go of the other boys and letting them drop to the ground as he writhed and rolled, screaming the whole time.

"How did that small blast have that much of an effect on him?" Ryo gawked, not believing his eyes.

"Because he's so full of darkness." Namine answered, Ryo turning his head as she ran up to him. "His soul is an endless mass of darkness, devoid of light. So, my power, being pure light, is his greatest weakness."

"Can you take him down?" Ryo asked just before the ground where Garlic had been exploded. Reacting quickly, Namine shoved Ryo out of Garlic's line of fire as the man in question screamed, charging one hand with lightning Ki and the other with mystic, blue flames. Not willing to let either power be released, Namine threw both of her daggers as she charged towards him.

"GAHH!" Garlic screeched as the daggers struck home in each of his arms, ending his attacks. However, he refused to stop and as he glared hatefully at Namine, he unleashed another power he'd stolen Piccolo, shooting thin, yellow beams from his eyes.

Unfortunately for him, Namine had read his thoughts and leapt safely out of harm's way with the grace of a ballerina before moving in on the shocked Garlic Jr. again, her palms glowing with light magic.

"Light Palm!" She cried, jumping up and throwing her palm into Garlic's cheek as hard as she could. The light magic pulsed from her hand as she made contact, blowing Garlic back again with another scream, for a moment his whole body glowing with white light. However, he refused to go down again. With a snarl, he placed one hand on the ground, ending his fall, and lashed out with a brutal kick right into Namine's stomach. Winded as the pain exploded through her gut, the wide eyed Namine could only give out a choked gasp as she was flew back as if she'd been fired from a catapult.

"Namine!" Gohan cried, his aura bursting to life and the earth crumbling at his feet as he pushed off as hard as he could, just making it behind Namine in time to catch her before she collided with jagged rocks. "Are you ok?" He asked, concern and panic evident in both his voice and his gentle hands surrounding her stomach.

"Y-yeah, I think so." Namine gasped, flinching slightly as her stomach disagreed with her deep breathing. "Nobodies have pretty tough bodies, remember?" She added with a small smile.

"Yeah." Gohan nodded with a grin, a light blush covering his cheeks. Now that the immediate worry was calmed, he had taken notice of their position, particularly the bare skin of her upper back and shoulders pressing against his chest. "Well then, um, we should probably help the others." He stuttered. Looking back at him amusedly, Namine was about to respond when a giant green flash caught both of their attention and left both of them openly gaping at what they saw.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to hit a lady?" The pissed off voice registering in his head, Garlic's scowling face turned just in time to see Ben encased in a flash of green light before gaping as the flash grew to the size of a skyscraper. As the light disappeared, a giant was left in its place. His body white and red, with what looked like a dorsal fin on his head and the Omnitrix symbol on his chest, he was easily the biggest thing anyone present had ever seen. "Way Big!"

"Unreal!" Roxas muttered as Ryo helped him up, neither able to take their amazed, dinner plate sized, blue eyes off of Ben's new form. "I never knew he was capable of turning into something like that."

"I never even thought that there were living creatures that big." Ryo exclaimed, a look of wonder and awe crossing his face. "Even a brachiosaurus doesn't come close to this guy!"

"I don't believe this!" Garlic cried, looking absolutely terrified as he stared at the furious face about two hundred feet above him. "A To'kustar! Impossible! They're so rare! And they're known as gentle giants, despite their incredible strength! How the hell did I obtain the incredibly horrific luck to come across what looks to be the most violent one in the galaxy?"

"By coming to EARTH!" Ben shouted, smashing his fist down right on top of Garlic Jr.

"Garlic's history." Gohan muttered, staring slack jawed as Way Big's fists slammed into Garlic Jr. again and again, forcing him deeper into the mountain.

"Better hope this mountain isn't actually a dormant volcano or at this rate we'll be history too." Namine responded softly, the only difference between her and Gohan being that her mouth was shut.

Having repeatedly punched Garlic a good six feet into the mountain, Ben stood up straight and took a 'small' step back, puffing slightly from the exertion. With one last glare, he crossed his wrists, creating an L shape.

"Let's see how you handle cosmic power." He snarled, right as a blue, cosmic ray burst from his hands, right into the hole. Roxas and Ryo fell onto their back and stomach respectively as the ray struck home, widening the hole Garlic occupied and sending tremors comparable to a level 5 earthquake throughout the area, Gohan flying himself and Namine into the air to avoid it. Yet, despite the explosive sound of the ray hitting the ground and the crumbling earth, Garlic's anguished scream still managed to be heard all around the mountain top.

"Amazing. I've never seen power this strong." Gohan muttered as he floated over the scene.

"Suddenly, I feel very obsolete." Roxas commented dryly, getting a nod from an awestruck Ryo.

As the attack finally died, Garlic Junior could barely breathe. His body was a mangled mess and it was taking all the energy he had left to regenerate it before he died. His breathing was so difficult that he had yet to exhale, forever sucking in tiny amounts of air. His form was going to have lots of scars after that one, that was for sure, but that wasn't what bothered Garlic the most. No, as his body healed and the pain receded, what bothered him was what he sensed. Way Big's power level alone was far beyond his now and the blinding light that had to be the Keybearer had plenty of his strength left, even after the lightning assault. The other light had weakened significantly since arriving, no doubt to her healing the others, but even her power was extremely dangerous to him now, it doing far more damage to him then the variation in their power levels suggested due the nature of magic, especially light magic.

_Not to mention that Gohan and Justiman are still up for a fight too._ He added, feeling their powers, both now surpassing his strength. _Well that does it then! I won't keep any of them around, dead or alive. I won't get their powers, but so be it, they have to be stopped and there's only one way I can stop them now._ As he finished regenerating, he forced his tired body to raise his hand, charging as much energy into his next attack as he could spare to distract those he knew were waiting for him at the top of the hole. "Spirit Strike!"

Above the ground, the teens were staring back and forth from Way Big to the impressive hole, every one of them utterly speechless.

"And I thought Gohan was a mile beyond every other Guardian." Ryo commented, the first to find his voice. "But the big guy looks like he's at _least_ as powerful as Gohan was when we found him turning Garlic into mush."

"No kidding." Gohan muttered, landing next to Roxas and reluctantly letting go of Namine before moving towards the hole. "Absolutely amazing. Even my dad couldn't produce that strong a power. Not without Vegeta." He added, giving Ben a smile. "So why haven't we seen this form before? He could have helped a lot."

"This form does come with weaknesses Gohan." Ben said, his voice booming around the area. "Its low speed large body make it very hard to avoid attacks. Though few attacks can hurt me, if one does make me fall, I could crush everyone I know. That risk is there just by walking around too."

"So you keep it for last resort." Namine nodded in understanding, getting one back from Ben.

"Now that the ultra transformation mystery has been solved, can we focus on the matter at hand?" Roxas snapped, snarling as his glowing eyes focused down the hole, catching the others off guard. None of them had even noticed him casting the spell. "That bone chilling black hole of an aura is still strong and focused, meaning-"

Before he could finish, four spirit snakes burst up through the hole and target the boys.

"Aah! Ryo cried, back flipping to avoid the red one's assault, only for it to follow him, its fangs poised to strike.

"Magical Ball!" The purple outlined light ball crashed right into the snake's head and exploded, the resulting flash taking the whole snake with it.

"Whoa!" Ryo gasped, both relieved and amazed that that actually worked. "I guess even mystical power is outdone by magic. Thanks for the save Namine." He added, turning a thankful smile as she lowered collected daggers, grinning back with a wink.

"HA!" Roxas shouted, slashing an x with his glowing Keyblades through the blue snake, dispelling it instantly as Gohan shot by, chasing after the green snake while the yellow one chased him.

Like Ben had said, Way Big was slow and a large target, easy prey for the fast and flexible snake spirit, and he could lock his cosmic ray on the thing. Gohan however, was fast and perfectly capable of out manoeuvring around the two. Getting them both in his line of fire, Gohan raised an open palm at each, his aura flaring and swirling around him.

"Aura Burst!" The raw power of his aura exploded into swirling beams, quickly striking each snake. Though made visible by Gohan's Ki mixing into it, auras in general were a mix of psychic and spiritual energy, making his attack perfectly capable of dispelling the snake spirits.

Just as the last of the snakes dispersed, Garlic flew straight up from the hole like a rocket, sighing loudly as the glow of the Makyo Star covered his being, refuelling his reserves once again. Getting more power the higher he got, he kept flying until he was just above Way Big's head before stopping and turning to the heroes, smiling darkly at them as they prepared to fight once again.

"It is time to end this battle once and for all." He shouted cockily, his smile turning crueller as his aura surrounded him again, looking more like a solid yellow outline this time, and his eyes turned a blank white before raising his arms at his sides. "For now all of you will know the damnation of the DEAD ZONE!"

"AAHHH!" Gohan screamed, his eyes wide and panic stricken as he watched the black door appear behind Garlic in the sky, an enormous, evil looking red and yellow vortex exploding from it and covering the entire mountain top, sucking everything into its source.

"WAAHHH! Put me down!" Roxas shouted, clinging desperately to a large rock as his body was sucked into the air, his legs flailing in the air towards the portal.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Namine and Ryo screamed simultaneously, both being pulled roughly from the ground and flying towards certain doom. Throwing his giant hand out Ben grabbed them as firmly as he dared and forced his entire body to the ground, curling up to make himself as compacted as possible just above Roxas, blocking most of the suction from him.

"This is not good." Ben grunted, placing Ryo and Namine next to Roxas so as to better grip the ground as he felt himself forcibly jerked upward. "Even I'm having trouble staying grounded! Who would have thought Garlic Jr. would have that much power?"

"He doesn't." Gohan grunted as he forced to the ground by Ben's entrenched foot. Releasing an echoing scream, he released an enormous amount of power from his being, more than he thought he had. He didn't think about it though, he was working solely on instinct. The only thing crossing his mind was his friends and what would happen to them if he failed and with that thought in mind, he managed to release enough power to create a shield big enough to cover even Way Big's curled up form, though it was clearly thin and relied a great deal on Ben blocking most of the Vortex's suction. "His power opens the door and shields him from the vortex. On the other side is an entire demonic world, craving souls to torture." Gohan continued as he struggled his way under Way Big, being very careful not to lower his contribution to their protection.

"Gohan, should I change back?" Ben asked, looking down at the struggling boy as the shield flickered slightly. "You would have less area to cover and would probably protect us better than I can."

"No." Gohan muttered, closing his eyes tight in an attempt to keep his shield firm. "I can't shrink it without hurting you until you changed back and the time it takes for you to transform is all the intensifying suction would need to send us all to our doom."

"Then what can we do?" Roxas asked, running a hand through his hair. "Namine and I can't create a portal, the demonic magic of that one would mix with it and cause unknown problems."

"Not that we could make one big enough for Ben anyway." Namine added sadly.

"What about blowing Garlic Jr. into the vortex?" Ryo asked. "Get rid of the source and all that."

"That's what I did last time, but he's so much stronger now." Gohan responded, his frown deepening as his strength waned. "He feeds on the energy of the vortex and the Makyo Star's right above him! On top of that, the only way to attack is for me to lower the shield and risk us all."

"Not to add to the issue, but the Omnitrix is likely to run out of power at any time now." Ben added apologetically.

"Great, just great." Ryo exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air exasperatedly. "Can we just skip to the part where the miracle shows up now?"

"I thought you'd never ask." A disembodied voice called happily within their heads, causing everyone to gasp.

"Who was that?" Ryo asked, looking left to right.

"There's no one else in the area, other than Garlic." Namine said confusedly, recognising the 'voice' as telepathy at work, but unable to find the source.

"That voice is really familiar." Roxas muttered, frowning at Gohan. "Wasn't it-"

"Daddy?" Gohan cried, hope and disbelief shining in his opening eyes. "Dad, it's you. Where are you?"

"In Otherworld Gohan." Goku said softly, Gohan's shoulders sagging in response. "Here there is a man named King Kai who watches over our Galaxy. He can speak telepathically with anyone, alive or dead, and is helping me contact you."

"So you really are gone." Gohan muttered, not managing to hold back a sob. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he looked up, expecting to see Roxas or Ryo in front of him, only to gasp as he stared into the chest of a transparent Goku.

"Gohan, I'll always be here for you when you need me. Even I know that the people we love never truly leave us." Goku told him, his eyes shining with love and pride as he they met the tearful ones of Gohan.

"But I still need you. I don't know how to live without you." Gohan cried, his body shaking as the tears fell.

"No you don't son. I've watched you grow over the years. You've changed so much from that scared, helpless little boy you once were. You're a strong, courageous and gentle young man. Gohan, you've become everything I ever was and more." Goku said warmly, meaning every word. "Just promise me that you will never lose those qualities Gohan and I'll be able to move on in peace."

"I promise." Gohan muttered, never taking his eyes away from his father's face. He knew with all his being that he was likely to never see him again until his own death.

"That's my boy." Goku smiled. "But while we're talking about promises, I do need one more favour from you. Now that I'm dead, I won't be able to keep my promise to your mother and Grandfather. Please, complete it for me, my young prince?"

"That?" Gohan asked, confusing the others. They didn't even understand why Goku called him a prince. "Of course I will Dad. They're my people. I don't want them suffering any longer than they'll have to."

"Sorry to butt in." Ben interrupted, looking down nervously. "But I can feel the portal's suction increasing, so it would be great if we could get to that miracle now."

"Oh, right." Goku replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Gohan, you have to use both of Garlic's aces against him. You have to use power from the Makyo Star too."

"What? How do I do that?" Gohan asked, visibly perplexed.

"Just look at it Gohan. Stare at it." Goku responded before turning very serious. "But while you're doing it, keep two things in mind. One, attack Garlic Jr. and two when he's gone, destroy the Star."

"Huh? Destroy the Star?" Ryo asked incredulously, dropping his jaw. "But that thing's a whole PLANET! I don't care how powerful Gohan is, he is not powerful enough to destroy a planet."

"Actually, it's only the size of a large asteroid." Goku replied with his usual wide smile. "And it's in the Earth's outer atmosphere. He'll need help, but all your powers combined should penetrate the core and then the planet will do the rest. But everyone will have to be very careful until the Star's destroyed once this starts, otherwise Gohan may kill you." Goku added, turning serious again. "It'll be up to you to keep the others safe big guy, starting from when the force field goes down."

"Right." Ben nodded, deciding to just go with it. Seeing the confusion on his face, Goku gave him an amused grin before turning lovingly back to Gohan.

"Just keep those two thoughts in your head son. And this one too. I love you. Tell your Mom and Goten that I love them too." With that, Goku's being faded from existence, leaving Gohan staring sadly into space.

"I love you too Daddy." He muttered. Wiping away his tears, his face turned determined as he stepped outside of the cover Way Big provided and looked straight up at Garlic Jr. and the Makyo Star beyond him.

"Finally come to accept your fate?" Garlic sneered, cackling as Gohan only turned angrier.

"No. I've come to stop you, once and for all." Gohan snapped back, tensing himself for whatever power his father said would come as he stared at the Makyo Star. "We're past the part where it's possible to end this without someone's end, so my compassion is satisfied. So with no other way of ending this, I'll make sure that you can never hurt anyone ever ag..."

His voice cut off, as did his shield, much to the shock of everyone present, as his mouth went slack and his body went stiff as a board as his eyes went blank.

"What's this?" Garlic asked, confused and slightly nervous. "He's just standing there. And despite have no protection, he isn't getting sucked into the Dead Zone. What's going on?"

Gohan's tail slipped out from within his sash and dropped down as Gohan's started convulsing, scaring the others as they watched on.

"His mind is completely blank." Namine muttered, right before flinching as what felt like the mind of a violent bear suddenly appeared in Gohan's head. "Now he's rabid."

"That would explain that look on his face." Roxas commented, watching nervously. "Those new huge canines fit well with it too."

Ryo, Namine, Ben and Roxas watched on in wide eyed shock as, just as Roxas mentioned, Gohan's teeth grew and sharpened while his eyes turned plain white and his face scrunched up in rage. A second later, his nose and mouth grew outward, forming a snout similar to a wolf's, and the convulsions increased, responding to his muscles rapidly bulking up.

"What is happening to him?" Ben asked, scared for his friend.

"Warning, Saiyan transformation." All of the teens, minus Gohan whipped their heads to Ben's chest as the Omnitrix answered Ben's question. "Natural alteration of DNA occurring. Danger, the giant ape is very dangerous to everyone it meets."

"Giant ape?" All four cried, turning back to Gohan just as he let loose a roar. Sure enough, Gohan's form continued to further resemble an ape as brown fur grew all over his body. A second later, his body started growing at incredible speed, quick surpassing two stories and still growing, the remains of his clothes ripping to pieces and flying into the portal. His ears grew long at the sides of his head, his eyes turned pure red and by the time he stopped growing he was seventy five feet tall and was the perfect image of a demonic ape.

"Unbelievable!" Ben gasped, right before a loud, primal roar escaped Gohan's giant lips, forcing everyone, Garlic included, to put their amazement on hold and cover their aching ears. "Who ever thought Gohan had this in him?"

"Ponder that later." Namine yelled, thoroughly terrified. "Gohan's mind isn't in there. This creature's only conscious thoughts are of fighting and destruction."

Before any of them could even register what she said, Gohan screamed again and brought his fists right down on Way Big's back.

"ARGH!" Way Big wailed, his body dropping from the impact and barely stopping his decent before his weight would crush those now lying on the ground screaming beneath him. Gohan however, seemed unsatisfied and irritated that it had such a small effect and went to attack again.

"No way!" Ben growled, throwing out his arm to block Gohan's, expecting to overpower him. However, all his action did was change the target and he released an agonised scream again as Gohan's fist slammed his arm into the ground at an odd angle. "ARGH! Damn it, he's stronger than me."

"HAHA! Isn't this just perfect." Garlic Jr. laughed, not even caring that Gohan was still completely unaffected by the Dead Zone's vortex. "Instead of saving his friends, Gohan will be responsible for their end. Then I'll wait until he returns to his humanoid form and suffers through his guilt before destroying him. Hahahaha!"

"Namine, you have to get him focused!" Roxas cried, grunting painfully as another of Gohan's fists crashed into Ben and forcing the giant to press the three teens below him into the ground. "Otherwise we're gonna die long before we reach that portal."

"But he's just a primitive beast right now." Namine exclaimed, her voice trembling with fear. "I don't have nearly as much influence over such a nonhuman mind. I can't even stop a lion from eating a gazelle."

"But Gohan is still in there somewhere." Ryo joined in. "You don't have to have the power to rein in his whole mind, just make him focus on his true foe and the Star."

"Ok, I'll try." Closing her eyes and frowning deeply in concentration, Namine put everything she had into connecting with Gohan's mind. Getting in, she was bombarded with the beast's bloodlust and rage and cried out, grabbing her head as she desperately fought not to be consumed by it.

"Namine, you can do this." Roxas said firmly, clasping her hand. "We all believe in you Namine, now believe in yourself. You have the power and the talent. Give him what he needs."

The second Roxas' hand touched hers, the ape's raging mind receded from hers, as if a wall had been put up and was holding it at bay. Calming down and feeling emboldened by the turn of events, she sent a quiet thank you to Roxas and focused harder, delving deeper into the core of Gohan's mind.

"_Gohan? Listen to me." _She projected as loudly as she could, stopping the great ape in its tracks as he went to throw an enormous boulder at Way Big. Seeing his reaction and the confusion in his mind, she pressed on. _"Gohan, attack Garlic Jr. He's your enemy."_ She 'said', sending an image of Garlic into his mind. _"Attack him Gohan!"_

Frowning and grumbling, Gohan stared at Way Big for a few seconds before deciding that he wasn't the target and turned his head around the area. He stared at Namine, Roxas and Ryo below Way Big in turn for a few seconds each, but again decided that they weren't who he was after.

"Why did you stop, hurry up and kill the cosmic being and watch the others be sucked away." Garlic growled, getting frustrated with the sudden end to the action just as it was getting good. However, his voice made it to Gohan's giant ears and he paled considerably as it brought the ape's attention to him. "Oh, no."

Having found his prey, Gohan screamed and threw the boulder at Garlic as hard as he could. Seeing the boulder the size of a two story building flying right at him with the speed of a cannon ball, Garlic freaked. Screaming like a banshee, he let loose an optical blast and broke the rock into tiny pieces that either bounced off of his shield or headed straight into the Dead Zone. However, Gohan was only enraged by the failure of the stone and roared right up at Garlic. However, this time everyone watching was frozen in place by shock, amazement and fear as an huge, purple beam exploded from Gohan's mouth.

'What? IMPOSSIBLE!" Garlic screamed, trembling as he watched the blast coming for him. There was nothing he could do, the blast held a great deal more power than even Way Big's, making it far too powerful to block, and even if he could move without getting sucked into the Dead Zone himself, it was too big and moving too fast to avoid it. "CRYSTAL SHIELD!" He screamed, creating a second shield around him in a desperate attempt to survive.

It didn't do much good though, for the second the beam struck, it destroyed the crystal shield and neutralised Garlic's aura like shield, blow him viciously back and into his own portal.

"NNNOOOOOO!" Though a slowly regenerating, mutilated mess, Garlic was still able to scream loud enough to hurt everyone's ears as he disappeared into the black door, flipping into the infinite darkness. It only left their ears as Gohan gave a roar of victory, overlapping Garlic Jr. as the black portal glowed red and disappeared from existence.

"Now, tell him to destroy the Makyo Star before he goes on a rampage again." Ryo called as Ben stood back up, drawing the attention of the ferocious beast.

"_Gohan!"_ Namine mentally shouted, stopping him just short of back fisting Ben's leg. _"Blast the Planet in the sky. Destroy it!"_

"Ben, quickly get me and Namine onto your head." Roxas yelled hastily. "Just do it!" He snapped as Ben looked down at him confusedly. Shrugging, the giant just did as he was told and picked them up.

"_Aim for it...wait, wait."_ Namine 'said' as Ben dropped them on his head. _"Now!"_ She yelled, both mentally and orally as her outstretched hand touched the side of Roxas'.

"LIGHT!"

"ROOAARRR!"

Simultaneously, Ben's cosmic ray, Roxas and Namine's beam of light waves and Gohan's purple mouth beam burst forth into the sky. Coming into contact halfway to the Star, the attacks fused into one overly giant beam of swirling blue, white and purple energy. The sky lit up like the fourth of July as the beam hit the planet completely decimating it as it breach the core and caused the entire rock to implode.

"This is absolutely amazing." Ryo muttered, unable to take his eyes of the lingering flashes of red, white, blue and purple sparkling in the sky. "I would have never thought that four people could ever produce this kind of power. In their current conditions, I don't think there's a single force on Earth that could ever come close to comparing to them."

"WOOHOO! WE DID IT!" Roxas cheered, jumping up and down in his excitement as Ben returned him and Namine to the ground.

"But what about..." Namine started, but her voice faded out as she looked at Gohan. The great ape froze, slack jawed as the lights finally faded from the sky and he immediately started shrinking. His eyes turned white as the fur receded and his feet reshaped into those of a human. His snout shrunk back into his face and his teeth returned to normal just as he returned to his normal sized. His black pupils and irises returned to his drowsy eyes just as the specks of fur and all remaining traces of the ape form faded back into Gohan's tailed, humanoid form before they closed and he fell back, exhausted and naked, but otherwise fine.

"Oh, um." Namine gasped, blushing darkly as his lack of clothing finally registered in her mind and turning away with her hand over her closed eyes. "Please don't tell Gohan I was staring."

"Why, see something you liked?" Ryo asked jokingly as he sagged to the ground, only making Namine whine as her blush somehow managed to intensify as Ben changed back to normal and flopped himself, snoring before he even hit the ground. Resting his head on his arms, he quickly followed Ben into the world of dreams with a smile on his face.

Chuckling lightly, Roxas took pity on Namine and covered Gohan's lower half with his short sleeved jacket before gently picking him up and bringing him over to the others.

"Namine, can you open a portal? My hands are full." He asked, keeping his back to Namine to ensure she didn't accidently see anything she shouldn't again.

"Um, yeah, s-sure." She stuttered, raising a hand and creating a white portal next to Ben. Placing her hands around his shoulders, she dragged him through as carefully as she could, wishing she was actually strong enough to lift him. Roxas walked through a moment later only to come back empty handed and pick up Ryo.

"Who would have thought that the Z Fighters had such epic situations." He commented, staring around at the debris. "One guy caused all of this chaos. And something tells me the real battles we're going to face have only just begun." Shaking his head and wondering why he let himself fall into such an ominous mood, he walked back through the portal and back to Capsule Corp.

"You are correct my young friend." Paradox said as he walked out from a pile of debris. "The real battles are yet to come. But today starts a chain of events. So you should be ready when the time comes. With a little prodding here and there of course." Grinning softly to himself, Paradox took a few steps back and disappeared, back from whence he came.


	11. Rest, Recovery And Farewell

**Rest, Recovery And Farewell**

"Oh, my brave little warrior. He should have never gotten involved with this stuff in the first place."

"Mummy, where's Daddy? I haven't seen him since yesterday."

"Oh Goten."

Gohan groaned softly as the people talking slowly registered in, followed by loud sobs. The next thing he noticed was that he was laying on something very soft, which his mind recognised a moment later as a bed. Finally, the third thing, which made his eyes snap open, was that the crying voices were those of his mother and brother.

"Mum, Goten?"

"Gohan!" Chichi and Goten cried, their teary faces whipping from each others' to Gohan, smiles crossing them as they jumped at him, hugging him tight.

"Oh, my sweet little baby, you're ok and you've finally woken up." Chichi sobbed, pulling a confused Gohan's head onto her shoulder.

"Yay, Gohan's awake!" Goten cheered, rubbing his face against his older brother's chest.

"Huh? What's going on? How long have I been asleep?" Gohan asked, though his mother was too busy going on and on about how he should never been at the fight and how worried she was about him to hear him.

"About fifteen hours, not that we expected any less." Smiling, Gohan pulled his head up and looked around Chichi to find Roxas grinning in the doorway with the clothes he'd left at Capsule Corp. in his hands.

"Roxas, good to see you're fine." Gohan grinned, pulling away from his mother completely. "What happened at the battle? The last thing I remember is yelling at Garlic."

"You went ape on us, figuratively and literally." Roxas smiled as he walked in. "You became more powerful than Way Big, nearly killed the two hundred foot alien and then blasted Garlic into the Dead Zone before helping us blow up a mini planet and turned back to normal. Gave Namine something to panic about at the end."

"Huh? Why?" Gohan asked, raising an eyebrow. "I would have thought the ape part would have done all the scaring, especially if I was as bad as you say."

"True, but her telepathy got you thinking right." Roxas shrugged as he dropped the clothes on Gohan's bed. "But what she wasn't prepared for was seeing the big bad Gohan in his birthday suit. Check under the sheets buddy."

His hands instinctively following Roxas' order and finding only bare skin around his hips, Gohan's eyes widened and he turned as red as a tomato as realisation set in.

"Namine...of all people...saw me..."

"Yeah, and had pretty much the same reaction." Roxas nodded with a small smile, partly sympathetic and partly amused. "Don't worry, she didn't stare. Too much. She got really embarrassed and closed her eyes. She won't say anything about it. Though Ryo might."

"Ooh, a girl saw Gohan naked." Goten teased, putting his face right in front of Gohan's. "And isn't Namine the name you were muttering in your sleep the other night?"

"GOTEN!" Gohan shouted, his blush only becoming darker as Roxas heard the boy. Not knowing what else to do, he pushed Goten off of him and threw the sheets over his head, hoping Roxas didn't get angry at him.

"Well, doesn't that make this even more interesting." Roxas commented, holding back a laugh. He was tempted to act like an overprotective big brother, but decided that Gohan had suffered enough over this. He couldn't think of anyone better for Namine anyway and silently hoped that he'd win his 'twin's' affection. _But maybe it's time to change the subject._

"You'll be happy to know everyone's ok." Roxas called as Chichi tried to get the sheet off of Gohan's head. "Namine's healed everyone and they're currently either hogging all the showers in this place or sending messages to their families while they drink their weight in caffeine."

"Thanks Roxas, that's a relief." _Even more so since you don't sound like you hate me now. _Gohan added silently, finally letting the sheet fall again to reveal the appreciative smile on his still pink face.

"You're welcome." Roxas replied, before his face turned sombre as he noticed the grief starting to return on Chichi's face. "I'll leave you to get dressed and be with your family. I'm sure you won't want the rest of us standing around for a while. We'll be in the lounging area if you need us. My condolences Gohan, Chichi, Goten." With one last sad smile, he turned and left the room, just as the full weight of what he'd lost hit Gohan's chest like a mallet.

"Daddy." He muttered, tears forming in his eyes again. "Mum, Daddy, he's..."

"I know sweetie, I know." Chichi sobbed, wrapping her arms around both of her boys as they all cried. Even Goten knew that his father was gone and wasn't coming back, though he had trouble believing it, and let his tears mix with theirs.

"He said to say he loves you two." Gohan muttered, though he wasn't sure whether or not his words registered in his family's heads. With nothing else to say, the three of them just sat there and cried for the part of their family that was forever gone.

...

The other Z Fighters weren't much better off as they sat in the lounge room with their families, the Guardians, Ryo and his friends. None of them were talking when Roxas rejoined them, drying his hair as he finally got to bathe himself, and he just sat next to Danny, not saying a word, and bowed his head.

Snuggling within her father's arm, Videl cried silently, burying her face in Hercule's shirt. Goku was like a fun loving uncle to her and knowing that she had led Junior Co. right to him, not to mention everything else she'd done under their control, was drowning her with guilt.

Vegeta wasn't much better off, though he refused to let anyone see him cry. Goku had been a very cherished friend to him, though he'd never admit it, and not just because they were both the only pure blooded Saiyans in the known Galaxy. Goku was kind, compassionate, self sacrificing and incredibly strong. Everything Vegeta found himself wanting to be.

Piccolo was brooding up on the roof, sitting in his meditative position, but unable to clear his mind. His own guilt from being one of the two who actually killed Goku, even if he wasn't in control, refused to let him calm down enough to clear his mind.

_I'm sorry Goku, Gohan. I wouldn't be surprised if you never want to speak to me again kid._

Back in the lounge room, Bulma was crying rivers. With the crisis over and her father taking Trunks out for the day, she was completely free to finally let her emotions run free. Goku had been like a little brother to her and the fact that he was gone almost killed her. It was like if Vegeta or Trunks had died. But in addition to that, she, like the seven Valour Guardians in the room and Ryo's group, also felt her heart breaking for Gohan, Chichi and Goten. She was confident that even she didn't feel nearly as horrible as they did right now. Despite the arguments that frequently occurred between Goku and Chichi, usually over their clash in parenting choices, it was clear that their family was an extremely loving one.

"Funny, isn't it?" Rai muttered, his voice echoing in the silent room. "Garlic represented one of the biggest potential disasters any of us have ever seen and the only casualty on our side just happened to be the most powerful of us all."

"It just goes to show that even the best of us aren't invincible." Takato muttered, thanking Mrs Briefs as she handed him a glass of lemonade.

"But he still found a way to help us out in the end." Ryo snorted, looking up at everyone with a mix of sadness and amusement. "He scoured the next life and found a guy who could telepathically link with the living. The only way that could have been better was if he warned us that Gohan was going to turn into an out of control, supersized gorilla."

"That's Goku for you." A slightly amused voice said from the doorway. Looking up, the group found Chichi and her sons walking through the door, a sad smile crossing her face. "He always did love to just drop surprises the size of King Kong on you."

"In this case, literally." Ben forced a grin, turning to Gohan. "How are you feeling monkey boy?"

"Heh, as good as can be expected." Gohan nodded, looking at him appreciatively through bloodshot eyes. "How about all of you?"

"We're all pretty upset and all of the previously infected are guilt ridden, but other than that, we're fine." Gwen answered, Ryo and the other Guardians nodding their heads while the other heroes looked away. "Between Namine and Roxas' healing magic and a good, twelve hour sleep, we're all as good as new.

"We're only still here to be here for you guys." Danny added, gesturing to the Z Fighters and their families, his eyes staying on Gohan.

"And we wanted to apologise." Henry said, rubbing his arms nervously before he, Takato and Rika bowed to the Son family. "We're very sorry for our involvement in what happened."

"If you need anything, just let us know." Takato added sadly. Gohan just stared at them for a moment before shaking his head. He couldn't forgive them for their involvement as far as he was concerned, there was nothing to forgive. Besides, without their armour, weapons and the deep purple eyes, even Henry looked nothing like the corrupted, bloodthirsty warriors he'd seen. However, it was Chichi who responded first.

"Don't feel bad. Even I know you had no control over yourselves." She said as she approached them, surprising everyone as her watery eyes looked into Takato's reddish brown ones warmly. "Just try to stay away from psychotic people with mind control powers ok?"

"S-sure." Takato stuttered, caught off guard. He thought she'd rant and rave and try to kill him for what he'd helped to do. But all she did was look each one of them in the eyes reassuringly before turning the look to Vegeta and Videl before the restraint she'd had disappeared again and she broke down again, right into Bulma's arms, Goten diving onto Videl and staining her shirt with his tears a moment later as he wrapped his arms around the surprised girl in a hug. A few seconds later, after registering the desire for affection with no sign of resentment, she hugged him back and cried with him.

"It's ok Goten, just cry. I promise it'll get better one day." She said between her own sobs, ruffling his hair.

Watching his family, Gohan was tempted to follow their example and cling onto Ben or Roxas or one of the other Guardians, blushing deeply at the thought of Namine, especially after...never mind, but there was one person in the room that needed reassurance almost as much as he did, as well as one on the roof. Sniffling, he walked as calmly as he could to the wall Vegeta was leaning on and leaned on it next to him, just close enough that their arms were touching.

Shocked, but very grateful at the reassurance and comfort Gohan was showing him, Vegeta grunted. He refused to let anyone know how he felt...however, he did lean into Gohan a little, showing his appreciation. Gohan just grinned at him as he let his tears fall again.

"Well, I think it's time we took our leave and let you all be." Kim said softly, rising from her seat, the other Guardians and Ryo's group doing the same.

"We'll send Piccolo in on our way." Namine added, giving the mourning family and friends a comforting smile, blushing deeply when she got to Gohan, causing him to blush with a great deal of embarrassment, but never letting her smile falter as he grinned sheepishly back.

"But...let us know when the funeral is please?" Rika asked hesitantly, her hand fiddling nervously with her hair. "We'd like to pay our respects."

"Not a problem." Rai nodded as he approached Ryo. Grabbing the blue eyed boy's hand, he placed a rectangular, metal device in his hand. "That's a V com. It'll allow you to communicate with here, our satellite or any and all of us. It also gives you access to our files on both heroes and villains we know and allows you to find any of our V coms anywhere on Earth. Basically, we'd like it very much if you joined us as a Valour Guardian. You definitely have the talent and heart. Plus, linking another team of heroes with the Guardians is beneficial for everyone."

"Wow, Ryo! You're being given the chance to be labelled as one of the greatest heroes of our generation." Takato exclaimed, staring wide eyed at the device.

"Great, like he didn't have a big enough head already." Rika said sarcastically, though the expression on her face was one of pride.

"What do you say Ryo?" Ben asked, coming up beside Raimundo.

"I'd have to say that I'm honoured that you think that I'm worthy." Ryo started, a little breathlessly. "And I thank you, but I'm not sure I'm ready to do what you guys do. Monitoring the entire world from orbit, jumping into each others' conflicts, just dropping everything at all hours of the day and night, it's kind of overwhelming for me. It's difficult juggling my current hero life with school and downtime and my Dad's close enough to a stress induced heart attack already thanks to me. So, sorry, but I have to decline." He said sadly, holding the device back up to them.

"Keep it." Danny told him as Kim wrapped Ryo's fingers around it. "If full membership is too much for you right now, how about we set you as an honorary member?"

"That means that you can call us for assistance if your team ever needs backup, you won't do monitoring duty and we'll only call you in case of a potentially apocalyptic emergency." Kim explained.

"This way, your team is still connected to ours and if you ever decide to change your status to full member, we're only a few buttons away." Gwen finished.

"Guys." Ryo said softly, touched by the offer. They were offering him a position that would give him all of the benefits of being part of the team without the extra effort on his part except in situations that his conscience would demand he help with anyway. "Thank you. And I promise, some day, when I am ready, I will pull my share of the weight on the team as a full member."

Nodding in acceptance and pride at Ryo, the group gave the Z Fighters and their families one last comforting smile before going on their way, Namine only stopping long enough to force Piccolo into a portal and through to Gohan before heading home, Ryo's team getting a portal from Rai before he created one for himself to the temple while Danny took the others home with the Fenton Jet. With the loss of the hero they all admired, both by reputation and by meeting him, if only once in most cases, they figured the Earth could go without a Guardian watching over it for a few days.

...

Even Gohan and Chichi were amazed at the number of people who showed up at the cemetery five days later, paying their last respects to their fallen hero. It was amazing how many hearts one man could touch. The seats were all taken and people were forced to stand around nearby tomb stones as the priest began the funeral, standing before a large, stone Z. On the bottom of the headstone was the inscription, reading 'Here Lies Goku Son. Loving Husband, Father, Friend and Selfless Hero. You Shall Be Deeply Missed By All'.

"My brothers and sisters, we are gathered here today to say farewell to our brother Goku." The priest said loudly, wishing he had a microphone so everyone could hear him. "Throughout the course of his life, he did nothing but show kindness and compassion to every person he met, touching the hearts of every one of us and protected us whenever there was danger. A purer soul is impossible to find and is one that will be greatly missed in our world. But let us remember, just as God's unseen hand is never far from our reach, neither are the souls of those we love."

As the priest continued, Gohan just let his tears fall. He was determined that this would be the last day he cried for his father. From tomorrow onward, he would only smile at his father's memory and live forever by his father's values, kindness, compassion, and doing whatever it takes to help the people who needed him.

_I promise Dad, I'll live my life in a way that you will be proud of. You'll see, I will never slip up again. I love you Daddy._ Closing his eyes as the priest spoke of keeping Goku's memory alive in their hearts, Gohan wrapped his arm around a bawling Goten and held him close, resting his head on top of his baby brothers.

"You know, I can't find words for how bad I feel for them." Kim said softly, sitting with the other seven Guardians a few rows behind the sobbing Z Fighters and their families. "Our only casualty and it was the kindest, most compassionate hero on Earth. And Gohan's father! He didn't deserve that and they don't deserve to be suffering like this."

"I know what you mean." Roxas nodded, his own eyes watering.

"He was also the most powerful and skilled hero on Earth." Ben said softly, but seriously, catching everyone's attention. "And all of us that were involved, excluding Namine, nearly died that day too. We can't let ourselves get that close to it again."

"And how do you propose we stop that from happening?" Raimundo asked, raising an eyebrow. "Death is a huge possibility in our line of work."

"Yes, but in most cases, we all could have been spared a lot of major injuries if we actually were capable of proper teamwork." Ben responded. "You and I were far more powerful than Ryo's friends and Kim was a far more talented fighter, but we couldn't use our full strength for fear of accidentally hurting or getting each other's way. A true team can fight at full strength and use that power to help and enhance each other's abilities. We need to know how to combined our powers and accurately predict each others' moves far beyond the kid's stuff we do now. We need to train together, become a true team, not just an organisation or random reinforcement solution like we are now."

"You're right." Gwen agreed with a sigh. "We do need to step up. If we had proper experience together, with Ryo's help, Danny and I probably could have taken care of Vegeta quicker and maybe even had some strength left to fight Garlic. Instead, we never even got the chance to see him."

"And we never will." Danny stated quietly, placing a finger to his lips to quiet down the others. "Gohan said that with the Makyo Star destroyed, Garlic's power is crippled. Without anyone to fight against and grow stronger in the Dead Zone, he'll be trapped there for all eternity, even his soul won't escape."

"This is all important, and I agree with Ben, but can we talk about it later?" Namine asked, frowning at the group. "This is Goku's funeral, let's make it all about him and comforting his family, like it's supposed to be." The group all turned sheepish at that and turned back to the priest just as he was speaking about Goku's spirit standing by God's side.

"I still can't believe that Gohan forgave me so easily, even with his intellect." Piccolo muttered at the back of the funeral beside Kami, his apprentice Dende and Mr Popo. "Logic and reason rarely come into play when someone's grieving as hard as he is."

"Yes, Gohan is unique." Kami said with a small grin. "He has inherited the amazingly strong light that has always dwelled within his father's heart and has even less darkness than he did. Though his time as our hero is over, he has brought someone who will one day surpass even him."

"Yeah." Piccolo nodded, his eyes never leaving the messy, black haired head of the boy sitting up front. "And I have a feeling he'll be there soon. _And I'll do everything I can to protect him until that day and beyond it Goku. You have my word, my old friend._

As the ceremony ended and everyone began to leave the graveyard, Gohan walked up to the stone Z and placed his hand on it. Despite all the pain this stone represented to him, he couldn't help the small smile growing on his face.

"You died the way you lived Dad. Doing everything you could to save us. As a Saiyan or a human, I can't think of a more honourable way to leave this world. I love you and I miss you, but I refuse to say goodbye. There's no point, your nearby, I know it. So, I'll see you when I see you." He finished, looking up into the sky. For a moment, he could have sworn he saw Goku smiling down at him. He faded away a moment later however, and Gohan couldn't quite figure out whether or not he'd imagined it, but he didn't care, his smile grew stronger anyway.

"Gohan." Namine's soft voice called from behind him. Turning around, he grinned at the sight of his family, Bulma, Vegeta, Trunks, Videl, Hercule, Piccolo, Kami, Dende, Popo, Ryo, Takato, Henry, Rika and the other eight Guardians staring concernedly at him. the sight only made his smile grow. His father may be gone, but he still had a very big family there for him, biological or otherwise. He'd get through this. "Are you ok."

"Yeah, you know what, I really am." He nodded, walking towards them. "Life won't be perfect without Dad, but I have all of you. That'll make it good enough until I see him again."

"You seem a lot happier than I'd expect." Videl stated, worry for his mental health etched in her voice.

"I've cried and raged for almost a whole week. I refuse to feel upset over Father's memory any longer." Gohan replied, looking her in the eye reassuringly. "For now on, his memory will only make me happy, like it should. That's how he'd want it. Besides, he's not really gone, is he?"

"Not at all." Roxas grinned warmly, nodding his head.

"Not to ruin the moment or anything, but with Goku gone, all of the dark forces, whether they knew him or not will get more active." Piccolo interrupted sombrely. "And they will only get stronger."

"True, but so will we." Gohan replied, getting nods from the other Guardians. "You'll see, one day I'll become as great a hero as my Dad is and I will surpass him. That way, Dad's life will have even greater meaning, having brought in and raised another great hero for the world. And who knows, maybe someday we'll be able to finish what he started and bring peace to the planet."

_Something tells me it won't be long before you reach his level Gohan._ Piccolo thought, proud of the boy for how he was handling himself. _And I get the feeling that the Valour Guardians might just be the power that will realise your father's dream one day._ He added as all of the Guardian surrounded and hugged the young Saiyan.

Up from the Heavens, Goku couldn't be prouder of what he saw. Though his time was at an end, he knew the Earth didn't need him anymore and his death had brought on changes to many of the teenage heroes that would make them all far stronger very soon.

"Even in death, I do something that will benefit all of the Earth for years to come." He muttered as he watched Gohan and his friends and family leave the cemetery, chuckling as Gohan hesitantly put his arm around Namine's shoulders. "I couldn't ask for a better way to go."

...

Gohan: _Our compassion can sometimes allow the worst possible situations to occur and that very trait can become lost. But it is a trait that we must hold onto with everything we have, for while it can lead to death and destruction like Garlic Junior's return, it can also lead to the discovery of true friends hiding within the shadows, Like Roxas and Vegeta. No one is pure evil, some have just lost their way and if you give them the chance, you might just find a diamond in the rough. Always look for the good in people and give them the chance we to find it. That's what my Dad believed and it's what I'll forever stand by._

* * *

**AN:** And that wraps up another story. Thanks again everyone who reviewed, subscribed and put my stories or me on their favourites lists. the next one will be in Kingdom Hearts if you haven't checked out my plans for future stories on my profile. Watch out for **Valour Guardians 5: Rise of Maleficent**


End file.
